Kōgi No Arashi Rogue Ninjas
by Destined Avenger
Summary: Life is not waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning how to dance in the thunder...
1. Chapter 1: Two Ambushes!

It was a dark night in Konohagakure, the village hidden among the tree leaves. All the villagers have returned to their houses emptying the stoned roads of the village. The cold breeze was hovering across the few trees scattered here and there on the back yards of some buildings. However, uncommonly a guy was standing upright atop a wooden wall over certain street of the village. It was the street leading straight to the Hokage's office building. The Hokage was the toughest Shinobi not only on the village but also in the whole Fire country. His influence on the Village's surroundings has brought many people to fabric myths about the legendary power of the Hokage...

"... I see... I think tonight is the best time of moving out."

The mysterious guy whispered lowly, only his eyes were noticeable in that utter darkness. Those eyes were shining like two balls of flames but he also appeared to have a remarkable height though his body size was above average. He suddenly kicked off the edge of the wooden wall with the heels of his shows and jumped off landing on the stoned road below without making any sound. He was swift like a cat. He soon started to march forward slowly staring up with his bright eyes at monuments of the previous Hokages faces carved into the rocky mountain just above the Hokage's building.  
There were eight legendary faces and he started to roll his eyes from left to right upon them while murmuring their names like if he was reading a holy script.

"Hashirama sama... Tobirama sama... Sarutobi sama... Minato sama... Tsunade sama... Kakashi sama... Naruto sama... Konohamaru sama... Wait! Why only the third Hokage was addressed by his last name!?"

A loud rustling voices suddenly stopped his train of thoughts and before he tries to realise what's going on a several masked persons surrounded him forming a loose circle on the road around him from every direction. Kyuseishu shifted his gaze between them instantly figuring that they're a bunch of the masked ninjas of Konoha called ANBU forces which he calls bugs. He snickered lightly showing no sing of astonishment but a voice came from one of those masked men made him turn his attention to the speaker which glared at him through the tiny slits on his crow-like mask.

"... What are you doing here around this late hour of night?"

Kyuseishu stayed silent despite realising the offensive tone on the ANBU member's voice.

Until he heard another ANBU member speak with a sound above a whisper.

"... This road leads to the village's gate... We've got a report that you keep planning for weird experiences even after you have been put under a special surveillance."

Kyuseishu maintained his indifferent expression although he started to feel the serious menace on his life if he had to confront this number of ANBU members all together.

"Aren't you going to speak up?"

A third dog-masked ANBU member said, scanning Kyuseishu with obscured look from behind the mask.

Kyuseishu thought that this one's voice was like a bark and he might pounce on him and bite him just like a dog anytime. The second ANBU member touched his large weapon pouch attached to his waist with his fingertips which were hidden under the thick cloth of black glove reaching up his wrist. He was the shortest one among the rest members of the squad although he has almost Kyuseishu's same height.

"We are sorry but we got a straight order to eliminate you if you resist to come with us peacefully... Raise your hands up above your head where we can clearly see them!"

His threat made Kyuseishu feel slightly disgusted from the way he spoke to him as if he's going to obey. He took a step forward and shrugged his shoulders.

"Try... To make it happen..."

The crow-masked ANBU member exchanged a quick eye contact with the ANBU member that gave the order to Kyuseishu than he looked back at Kyuseishu.

"You are a Chunnin right? There's no point from trying to resist us. A final advice, surrender or we'll have to kill you."

Kyuseishu took another step forward, unfazed by their threatening words. He never looked at any of them on the face due to him knowing that he can't read their masked faces."

I said try to make it happen, I hate repeating myself."

He replied, it's never his choice to surrender. The crow-masked ANBU member stepped back slowly sighing before lifting his right arm up vertically beside his head. He was the biggest among them and his action made it clear that he was the leader of the ten-men squad that surrounded Kyuseishu.

"TAKE HIM DOWN!"

The ANBU Leader shouted and an alarming signal ran throughout Kyuseishu's body hearing the sounds of the weapons clinking and unsheathed swords. He watched through the corner of his vision the second ANBU member run towards him, pointing the blade of his standards ANBU sword at him but he didn't move a inch.

"Heh..."

The ANBU member roared, swinging his blade with remarkable speed at Kyuseishu's neck from front. Kyuseishu measured the distance left between them at that instant around ten feets. ... A Wheezy sound of a collision cut through the silence of the night. Kyuseishu's right hand was holding the handle of the ANBU member's sword tightly, the sharp edge of blade has been stopped mere inches before reaching Kyuseishu's throat.

"... Too slow..."

Kyuseishu murmured and the ANBU member's eyes went wide as he gritted his teeth struggling to pull his sword back from Kyuseishu's grip but his attempt was useless. He stamped the floor with his foot and threw a straight punch towards Kyuseishu's left side. Kyuseishu's left arm was free, he knew he got advantage over his opponent because he found the key to control his reactions by getting a hold on the sword, the male's main weapon. His left arm moved downwards beside his waist with high velocity blocking the punch directed at him as he pulled back his right arm violently snatching the sword off the attacker's hand before throwing it away. He never used a sword before so he decided not to risk himself by trying to use it right now because that might cost him his life in case he misuses the sword.  
Another ANBU member suddenly jumped off the ground and tossed two Kunais at Kyuseishu's back, a coward move but working one. However, it would work if Kyuseishu's sensibility wasn't high. He blinked sensing the Kunais flying towards his back but his left arm kept resisting the punch. he smirked realising that his both legs were still yet free so he swiftly lifted his right foot off the floor and thrusted the heel of his sandal onto the ANBU member clashing with him, pushing him backwards into the air. The two Kunais nearly collided with his back but he slid with one foot to the right side avoiding the two Kunais, one of them eventually passed mere inches beside his left waist. Now as he turned to scan the rest of the squad, he heard the one that he kicked two seconds ago slam against a wooden wall several meters away with a loud growl.

"Arrrgh!"

The dog-masked ANBU member dashed towards Kyuseishu furiously from behind shooting with his fist in the air preparing to deliver a surprising assault. Kyuseishu whom was already bored from the fight sighed faintly as he landed his right foot down and quickly lifted his forefingers in front of his lips forming a seal. Two other ANBU members dashing towards him, each with a standard ANBU sword. But they were already trapped in his eyevision.

"It's been a while for a Taijutsu practice but..."

He whispered as his right arm was already stretched far behind him, eventually catching one of the two offensive ANBU member's fist.  
It was the dog-masked member whom twitched as his fist got caught by Kyuseishu's hand without even the latter's turning around to notice his attack.

"H-how!? Is he got eyes behind his head?"

% He grumbled, the rustle of a fifth and sixth ANBU members jumping down towards Kyuseishu from above while charging with their long swords at him simultaneously made the dog-masked member believe that Kyuseishu is a goner and the shout coming from them confirmed his assumption.

"You're done!"

Kyuseishu chuckled silently at their presumes. He knew he's still doing good against their simultaneous attacks and with one of them already down, his chances of surviving increased. Without turning around, he let go of the dog-masked member's fist and slipped his own left hand into the male's armpit, using an added strength emitted from his feet to lift the ANBU member off the ground and flip him over his head, digging his fingers into the ANBU member's jacket to assure the best results.

"WHA-"

He used his other arm just to support the weight of the ANBU member carrying him on his shoulder just below the two swords of the other offensive ANBU members that dashed downwards at him. he ducked intercepting their swords with the human shield he made out from the dog-masked ANBU member, shortly hearing the flesh getting slashed right above his ears.

"Arrrrrrrghhh!"

The two blades of his comrades sliced throughout the dog-masked ANBU member before he could even realise what's happening as he kept hanging upside-down on Kyuseishu's hands. Blood trickling down all over his body but he got no time to feel pain because he was already dead. The leader of the squad was analysing every instant of the clash without an eye twitch. "Is that really a chunnin?" He murmured with certainly nervous voice. One of the ANBU members that sliced his comrade with his blade pulled away his sword and made a back flip landing few meters away from Kyuseishu. His facial expression filled with shock and panic.

"What the!?"

The other ANBU member, whom his blade sank deeply into the dog-masked member chopping off hid left leg completely, gasped surprisingly watching the blood coating his sword. Kyuseishu took advantage of their shock and vanished suddenly from their sight and reappeared behind both of them. He quickly forwarded his both hands and held their heads, each head with a hand before crashing them against each others mercilessly and blasting the bones of their heads into shreds.

"Think again...!"

The leader of the squad sighed nervously watching two other members of his men collapse. He glared towards Kyuseishu with ablaze, dark eyes and started to walk in his direction slowly.

"I see... You're not bad as a Chunnin... But don't feel proud."

He whispered regarding Kyuseishu carefully but Kyuseishu shrugged ignoring his words while wiping his face from the blood calmly, watching another ANBU member whispering something in the ear of the squad leader whom narrowed his eyes and drew out a Kunai cutting open his left wrist. Few blood drops dripped on the ground beneath his feet making Kyuseishu confused of what he was up to.

"You saw this blood?"

The leader said, fixing his sharpened eyes on Kyuseishu.

"The same red blood will flow now from you like a river."

Kyuseishu stared at him closely for a moment feeling that he face began to sweat.

"Hmph..."

A couple of seconds passed heavily before the leader finally decided to give the order to annihilate Kyuseishu. He held his injured hand up above his head and shouted aggressively.

"Take him out with one blow!"

The rest five ANBU members except the leader suddenly dashed towards Kyuseishu, charging with their Katanas at him simultaneously. He maintained his unblinking expression and quickly pulled out a smoke bomb from his inventory pouch.

"... I have no more time to waist here with those bugs..."

He whispered to himself and tossed the smoke bomb against the ground which bounced off two times before exploding, releasing a thick cloud of purple smoke around Kyuseishu. He jumped away and started to run onwards, taking advantage of the smoke that blurred the ANBU members vision temporarily. He sighed confidently when he glanced behind him realising that no one was trailing him but he could hear their whispers clearly from within the smoke.

"Damn it..."

"He is escaping..."

"I can't see anything..."

Kyuseishu kept running forward towards the gate feeling a strange chills across his skin. The sight of blood was still on his brain which reminded him that he's still not fully recovered from his Hemophobia. How much they know about me? He questioned himself watching that he got so close from the boards of the gate but a mysterious person was waiting for him there with his huge body to prevent him from foreign out. Kyuseishu pulled out three Shurikens without even thinking about who might that be. He tossed them onwards towards the mysterious in the same trajectory of his running line without stopping but the clink sound of metals made him realise that his Shurikens have been deflected away.

"Do you think that you can escape so easily?"

A voice called from the darkness with a chuckle but Kyuseishu never stopped running figuring that it might be the leader of the ANBU squad who was possibly more skilled than the rest members. Kyuseishu just formed two fists and slowed down his running pace a bit preparing to clash with the foe.

"It's easy since you are the one trying to stop me, Heh..."

He whispered maintaining his confident expression even though his voice seemed far indifferent. The leader of the ANBU squad lifted his huge sword up resting the edge of it's handle on his right shoulder while staring forward towards Kyuseishu coldly.

"Such a big words from a kid like you... C'mon show me...!"

Kyuseishu's running trajectory didn't change, he thought about ending his enemy with one blow but the darkness wasn't any help. However, when he approached the ANBU's leader by merely ten feets, he clearly realised his figure and where he was standing exactly. Unware of any traps, he shooted a peek punch towards the other male's chest as he halted three feets in front of him and made sure that his lower half was out of the sword's range because he was ready to follow the punch with a high kick.

"!"

He twitched slightly as the male managed to push Kyuseishu's arm away with relative ease using his left palm before the punch reaches his chest. His right hand simultaneously grabbed the handle of his sword and swiftly swung it downwards targeting Kyuseishu's left shoulder but Kyuseishu's right leg was faster as he lifted it up high, Kicking the handle of the sword off the male's hand just in time and tossing it away vertically into the air.

"!?"

The ANBU'S leader widened his eyes watching Kyuseishu's high velocity but before coming with any other reaction, Kyuseishu gripped his left arm while he focused his spiritual energy on one point of his left clenched fist as he leaned his upper half forward close from the male by mere inches. The ANBU'S leader gritted his teeth nervously but a cocky smirk made it's way up into his lips as he caught Kyuseishu's right foot in the air with his right hand.

"Heh... You wanted me to ignore your already lifted foot? Nice try kid!"

Kyuseishu replied with a fainted chuckle throwing his free left fist towards the male's face swiftly.

"You still didn't get it!"

The ANBU'S leader's eyes twitched realising too late that his both hands were occupied. He flailed his left arm nervously trying to free it from Kyuseishu's firm grip to block the punch but his loud gasp was faster this time as Kyuseishu's enhanced fist thrusted into his face harshly piercing the bones of his head.

"WAAAAH!"

Thirty Three hours later...

An endless desert, the sun in the middle of the clear sky, shining upon the sand beads making it look glamorous... An infinite sea of sand... The dark haired Shinobi named Kyuseishu was running rapidly across the sandy hills that scattered here and there over the distance. He was wearing the standard attire of Konoha's chunnin members consisted of greyish, sleeved jacket with a high collar, a black pants and matched Shinobi sandals. Exhaustion was clear on his features...

His brows suddenly twitched up as the sandy ground beneath him began to shake like if it was an earthquake striking all in a sudden but Kyuseishu felt with his high sensibility that something was travelling under the sand surface just below him. He quickly halted to a stop and jumped backwards few times watching The ground crack up in the right in the spot he stopped on before jumping and a black thing like a humanly head began to emerged from under the surface of sand, blasting away a light cloud of dust and sand.

Kyuseishu exhaled through his nose while staring down towards the stranger as he landed with his feet ontop of a low hill about 15 meters away from his previous spot. He maintained his calm expression although the offensive appearance of the stranger which surprised him.

"Who are you!?"

Those words escaped from his lips as he watched the stranger guy glance towards him with expressionless look. He noticed that the strangers body was fully covered with black dress carrying a retractable shield over the chest. A black mask also was his entire face except his eyes which were bright and fiercely scanning Kyuseishu. He chuckled slyly as his complete body was now exposed on the sand's surface.

"... I am a Hunter-Nin sent to kill you before you approach your destiny. There's no more of telling you further information about me."

He said with cold tone and planes his both feet into the sand firmly as he formed the Ram handseal.

Kyuseishu realised that he doesn't have time to examine the guy closely or analyse what ability he might posses because he prepared directly to attack by performing that handseal. The fact that he seemed confident enough to reveal what he was here for without a hint of hesitation made Kyuseishu feel threatened.

"Damn, I'm still exhausted from my confrontation with ANBU Konoha..."

Kyuseishu whispered faintly to himself as he parted his legs slightly and kept scanning the Hunter-Nin with fiery look. The wanders started to multiply in his about who might sent this hunter to assassinate or what was his real purpose but he thought the best way to know is to ask the guy himself.

"... Who sent you after me and under whom you work?"

He questioned after a bit of hesitation but the masked hunter suddenly stretched his both arms behind his back and chuckled sarcastically.

"I told you it's pointless to keep asking me questions... Because the only answer I am going to give you is your death."

He murmured with emotionless voice and quickly extended his arms forehead drawing out five Kunais from the sleeves of his cloak. He held each Kunai from it's ring with one finger and crossed his arms back in front of his chest before launching them onwards, eventually tossing the ten Kunais all together towards Kyuseishu. They flew forward in the same trajectory towards him the one next to the other like projectiles making their evasion hard. Figuring out that, Kyuseishu quickly pulled out two Kunais from his weapon pouch and lifted his both arms horizontally in front of his chest, holdings each Kunai from it's handle with one hand firmly. He realised that if a single Kunai from the upcoming ones stabs him, the injury even if it was small would make him suffer afterwards so he decided that he had no choice but blocking all the Kunais even though he was well aware that his mysterious foe might only used them as a distraction. But Kyuseishu wasn't bent to underestimate any of the attacks. [13] The ten Kunais launched on his direction were already away about fifty inches from reaching him as he finished thinking. He flicked his forearms with swift motion deflecting two of the incoming Kunais away with his both Kunais. A third Kunai he couldn't notice slashed the back of his bony left hand producing a minor cut as he was about flick his arms again. Another Kunai flew past his left ear with two inches while a fifth Kunai sliced the air just above his hair ball as he tilted his head down a little in time. His right moved unintentionally catching another Kunai from it's ring with his small finger before it could pierce his chest. The rest four Kunais weren't hard for him to block, he deflected all of them away with one Kunai and simultaneously used the momentum of his left foot which was firmly pressed onto the sand to push himself off towards his foe and starts to dash towards him as he began to throw the three Kunais left with him towards the other guy successively.

The Hunter-Nin ran off towards Kyuseishu just about the same time blowing up a small cloud of dust and sand around him. He skilfully dodged the three Kunais in motion by leaning his head to the left side and right right successively letting the Kunais pass next to the sides of his head.

"Hm. Not bad!"

He whispered with mocking manner as he held out his both arms forward. Two retractable, metallic blades sprung forth from under his sleeves over his wrists as he kept dashing forward towards Kyuseishu, smirking. Kyuseishu realised he doesn't have time to draw out more Kunais so he clenched his fingers tightly around the Kunai that remained in his hand as he continued to run forward towards the other male onto the sand, observing him carefully.

"You better be straightforward and tell me who sent you to ambush me...!"

He said with emotionless tone and ran few more paces before finally halting to a stop while thrusting his Kunai forward against the other male's blades. But the male crossed his bith blades forming the form X in front of his chest and blocking Kyuseishu's Kunai, slowing down his momentum. He pressed his teeth together and chuckled lightly while clenching his blades against Kyuseishu's Kunai hard and staring into his eyes.

"Heh, I guess you are not that clumsy to keep asking me that..."

The Hunter-Nin said and Kyuseishu smirked back furiously realising that he already has advantage on his opponent because his left arm was still free.

"... As I presumed... It must be the Kazekage... Is the one behind ambushing me in the middle way to Sunagakure... Heh, You guys know about me more than what I expected."

The male sighed with relaxed manner as he puffed out his breathe through the mask. He continued to clench his blades against Kyuseishu's Kunai finally managing to immobilize it's motions. His furious eye contact with Kyuseishu remained still.

"Heh, you are far intelligent than what you seem, kid. The Rukodaime Kazekage sent me tp wipe out another trash, which appeared to be you in the end. I have to admit you are a little good because I couldn't get you with surprise on the first time."

He mocked, his face seemingly showing no emotion behind the cloth of his dark mask. But Kyuseishu could tell that he was grinning sharply.

". . . . . ."

He clenched his left fist hard thinking about ending this fight with a Taijutsu combo. He realised that His opponent wasn't as skilled as he predicted, at least in close range combat. But he felt that his right hand holding the Kunai was enduring all the pressure of the male's blades applied on him. He needed to loosen the pressure a bit before the bones of his hand shatter which won't help him to gain more information about this mysterious hunter.

"Ugh... Is that so... Now I understand..."

He said while grunting, finally getting the perfect timing to shift the calibre of power to his advantage. He launched his left fist with blindingly speed forward at the other's face. Surprised with the sudden assault, the hunter quickly lifted his right arm upwards vertically in front of his face, receiving the punch with his elbow. He found himself forced to free Kyuseishu's Kunai from the grip of his two blades but for his surprise he winced.

"!"

The blade attached to his left arm was sliced in the middle into two halves by Kyuseishu's single Kunai. Kyuseishu followed by thrusting his Kunai forward towards the hunter's chest as he gripped the cloth of his right sleeve firmly, binding his arm that the male used to block his former punch.

"Even with this armor of yours, a can still pierce through your heart!"

He shouted loudly but the hunter replied with a grin as he sluggishly tried to pull his right arm away. Kyuseishu's sharp Kunai was mere inches before slashing into his chest.

"You're not bad in close range combat, you know?"

His index and middle fingers were lifted up in front of his chest as he uttered forming a half handseal, the pointed tip of Kyuseishu Kunai was about to dive right through the male's fingers but a thick amount of sand intercepted the moving Kunai along with Kyuseishu's hand holding it. The dashing shield made of sand now covered the hunter's image totally while Kyuseishu flipped backwards shockingly before landing few meters only to stare forward with disbelief.

"A Ninjutsu...!"


	2. Chapter 2: Ninja Arts Eruption

"A Ninjutsu!?"

Kyuseishu whispered shockingly as he landed on the sand few meters away from his foe and parted his legs slightly in a fighting pose.

"How?!"

He barely inhaled another breathe trying to shake off the shocked like state he was into, before a thick amount of sand suddenly hurtled towards him from the hunter's direction. His eyes widened but he leaped to the side swiftly dodging the dashing sand then started to dash towards the hunter quickly, narrowing his eyes.

"This guy's dangerous... I have to be careful."

The Hunter without showing any impression, lifted his both hands in front of his chest and clapped his palms together vertically.

"RYUUSA NO JUTSU!"

He stated with expressionless voice and Kyuseishu suddenly halted to a stop noticing that the sandy ground beneath his feet started to vibrate making the sand blunder like if it was a swamp.

"Shit! What's going on!?"

He instantly realised that it's risky to stand even more onto such an unstable ground especially after his feet started to drown slightly into the sand. So he quickly jumped upwards into the air while he kept observing the ground below closely with astonished facial expression.

"Hmph... I won't be able to land close attacks on him at this rate."

He whispered to himself noticing that he already flew about ten meters into the air above the ground.

"I am getting away from him more and more... Damn it, I can't land on the ground as long as there's a possibility that he can control the sand around him... That quicksand will finish me off once I get trapped again in it..."

He thought nervously, but he couldn't float anymore in the air and realised that he should land urgently. But where? He soon analysed that the early patch that got affected by the Quicksand was narrowed to certain area around the user. That was true indeed, because when he landed five meters behind the Hunter, he noticed that the sandy ground was still steady. He smirked mockingly as he stared towards the male.

"Heh... You know I am better than you in close range combat so you decided to confront me using that ancient ability known as Sand Manipulation... But as far as I know... Nobody inherited that skill so how you!?"

He questioned with concerned voice while sharpening his eyes but he heard the Hunter sighing before speaking with the same cold voice.

"You think you managed to escape my trap? But you didn't know that I control all the sand in the area."

He stated and quickly wove the Dog handseal, Leaving no time for Kyuseishu to fully grasp the fact that he just uttered.

"NINPOU - Kuchiyose No Jutsu!"

A giant cloud of smoke suddenly erupted around him forcing Kyuseishu to cover his face to protect it from the violent wave of dust and sand produced by the summoning Jutsu that blew outwards. He jumped backwards few times to take a safe distance from the presumed summon and soon as the cloud of smoke started to vanish, a gigantic black summon was revealed, swaying it's long, thick tail. Kyuseishu immediately realised it was a giant scorpion as he stared at it closely and gulped with irritation.

"Damn it... This is bad... A tiny scorpion's venom is enough to kill a human so how about that giant one... He'll annihilate me with one stroke for sure..."

The hunter chuckled from his stance ontop of the scorpion's head without turning around to face Kyuseishu.

"And now, it's time to finish you off!"

He whispered out loud and the scorpion suddenly vanished from Kyuseishu's sight leaving only a light steam of dust behind it on the spot it was standing upon. Kyuseishu gulped again as he took a step back onto the sand and grabbed a Kunai with his left hand while narrowing his eyes sharply trying to presume where the scorpion had disappeared before it could blow him an attack, so then he won't be able to fight back. He felt entirely lost in thoughts...

"Darn... The situation got even worse than I expected... Could it be hiding underground?"

His eyelashes suddenly twitched with irritation.

"Underground!? Of course!"

He stuttered nervously but before he could shift his eyes downwards to look down, a massive Shadow suddenly appeared on the sandy ground around him, instantly flipping his calculations upside-down.

"From above!"

He growled anxiously and pressed his feet hard onto the ground trying to jump away as the massive shadow widened even more around him, seemingly alarming him that there's probably less than one second left before the finishing strike to land on him but he suddenly realised that his both feet were pinned tightly with mysterious force to the sandy ground disabling them from moving leaving him paralysed. it was a mysterious force he couldn't even look down to define it.

"Shit!"

The Scorpion eventually landed with it's massive weight on Kyuseishu causing a loud thud and numerous shreds to blow outwards from the ground in different directions. The Hunter appeared standing ontop of the head of the scorpion, crossing his arms while displaying a confident smirk. He was looking down towards the spot where Kyuseishu was seemingly standing on.

"You still don't get it yet!? That I can manipulate all the sand in this area...Heh... Your ignorance is the only reason responsible for your bane."

...

Kyuseishu's body was trembling all over. He noticed that he was still unharmed somehow but his both ankles were tied by a Large Rope made of sand pining his feet tightly to the ground and still disabling him from moving. The giant scorpion had landed mere inches before him nearly missing him.

"...!"

"You're done!"

The Hunter suddenly declared waking Kyuseishu up from his temporary astonishment as the Scorpion lifted up one of it's front legs and dropped it down quickly aiming it's massive spear-like claw straight at Kyuseishu's head. Kyuseishu's eyes widened as he looked up at the incoming strike, shocked, without being able to do anything to rescue himself.

"Whaaaaa-"

A slicing sound cut out Kyuseishu's gasp followed by a thud of a heavy body colliding with the sandy ground.

A young mysterious woman landed suddenly on a high sandy hill located ten and few meters to the north from the massive scorpion. She lifted her right arm up catching a large, metallic, flying ring from it's soft spot with her tiny fingers. The thickness of the ring was about 3 mm and it's circumference was 1 meter. This weapon was sharp enough to cut through almost any solid and it can fly for long distances faster and farther than any common Ninja weapon then return back to it's user when it gets thrown in a curved path, just like the woman did. She grinned sharply showing her cleen teeth as she looked down towards Kyuseishu with a sarcastic hint on her face.

"It seems that I just arrived at the last moment to save your ass!"

Kyuseishu gazed up towards the top of the hill surprisingly. He was still unharmed miraculously and the Scorpion's leg was sliced into two halves, it's lower half containing the spear-like claw fell beside him on the sand and now it appeared that the Sand Rope lost it's effectiveness. Realising that, Kyuseishu quickly flipped backwards few times taking a safe distance from the scorpion before landing on his feet only to look back up towards the mysterious female with dumbfounded look.

"You... What brings you here Katsumi?!"

The young girl just scoffed while fixing her flying ring on her back with a large belt, not looking to any particle direction. She looked confident on herself and quite pretty for a female warrior.

"You are late for the date that we are supposed to meet at... So I guessed you are facing a trouble in your way."

She whispered calmly then started to scan the area through her luminous eyes with unfazed look. Kyuseishu shook his head in disagreement as he glared back forward towards the hunter and his scorpion.

"No, I am fine! You just didn't have to jump in just like that in the middle of a battle... This guy is in a completely different level than us!"

He said nervously knowing that the situation didn't get any better with the female's interfering even if it was on his favour. But he realised that she might just get on his way. The hunter suddenly folded his arms around his chest as he chuckled sarcastically. He seemed very satisfied even after losing the advantage in number against them.

"Kuku... I see, a little girl is determined to join the brawl too... Well, I was only ordered to finish off that Leaf brat but if somebody else tries to get in the way, I'll just kill them off too. So, you both brats will become my prey now."

He barely completed his sentence before the giant Scorpion suddenly stretched out it's massive tail and launched it swiftly towards Katsumi, aiming it's sharp poisonous thorn at her head.

"Tsk!"

Katsumi hissed as she jumped away quickly, dodging the strike without even giving less attention to it before landing calmly on her feet next to Kyuseishu's left side. She was wearing a knee-length reddish skirt and incorporating fishnets over her thighs underneath the skirt. In addition, she wore a pair of black Shinobi sandals on her feet and as top she was wearing a purple-colored kimono shirt with low collar revealing the half upper part of her chest and short sleeves exposing her fair skin. The shirt was graced with greyish straps over the shoulders and sides. The headband of the Hidden Sand village was worn over her forehead. She was a typical Kunoichi with straight body style; well shaped legs and curvy lines especially on her upper half beneath her relatively tight shirt. Her facial features were simply pretty with a hazel, bright eyes and long, black, silky hair reaches down the middle of her back. Her height was nearly paralleled with Kyuseishu's height as she stood next to him. She shifted her head towards Kyuseishu with confused facial expression, squinting her thin eyebrows lightly.

"Is he using that creepy Scorpion in fighting?! If he had summoned it by blood contact, it will get dissummoned once we take out the summoner, right?"

Kyuseishu maintained his serious look as he kept observing the scorpion closely with his eyes.

"I don't think so... He performed only a single handseal I could tell it was the Dog handseal by the position of his arms and that's not the standards handseal for the summoning Jutsu. That's just weird.."

The Hunter blinked like if he noticed something after observing Katsumi closely with his fierce eyes for an extended moment of time, not paying real attention to their conversation.

". . . . . . . "

He smirked after taking a mental note and suddenly jumped off the Scorpion's head to the sandy ground below befall taking a couple of steps forward slowly towards the other two while folding his arms.

"I wonder what a Kunoichi from the Sand village supposed to do here with a brat from the Leaf..."

He scoffed. The giant scorpion suddenly vanished in a large puff of smoke.

Katsumi narrowed her eyes against him silently and took a step forward ahead of Kyuseishu while lifting her left arm to grab the Sharp flying ring attached to her back.

"... Let me just handle him and kick his ass! We shouldn't worry about the scorpion anymore."

She said and suddenly started to dash towards the Hunter while gripping the ring on her back without drawing it off.

"Katsumi! I told you he's in a whole different level than us, you shouldn't get close from him recklessly!"

Kyuseishu yelled at her but she ignored his warning and continued to run towards the hunter before jumping onwards as she quickly grabbed a hold of her ring from it's soft spot then she swiftly shoved it downwards towards the hunter's head while hissing out loud as she jumped at him.

"Take this!"

The hunter didn't move a step from his stance, he simply blocked her weapon with double edged Kunai using his left hand. The two weapons collided causing a sharp whizz as the hunter placed a step back firmly with his right foot to keep up with her momentum.

Kyuseishu squinted his brows watching them as he gritted his teeth in anger. It was too late for him to interfere and stop her.

"Damn it... I knew she's so Reckless..."

However, Katsumi seemed to have much confidence on herself more than Kyuseishu's confidence on her. She smirked smugly, using the advantage of gravity on her side and pressing her sharp Ring against the hunter's Kunai still without landing her feet on the ground.

"Heh!"

She scoffed noticing that he was grinding his teeth together to endure her momentum. Without loosening the pressure on him, she suddenly elevated her waist upwards and used her high agility to flip herself backwards and rotate in the air above the hunter swiftly before landing right behind him.

"!"

He blinked, surprised to her high velocity but before trying to make any defensive move, Katsumi lifted her right leg suddenly launching a spinning kick with her foot towards his shoulder from behind.

"I got you!"

She shouted but for her surprise, the Hunter ducked letting her foot swing one inch above his head. He leaned down until his nose nearly touched the sand and his body got paralleled with the ground, presuming another blows to follow from her. she blinked but he suddenly flipped himself over using his elbows to support himself onto the sand and making his back facing the ground now. Katsumi was halfway from landing her right foot after her kick missed him with an inch before turning to deliver another blow but he quickly retracted his right leg under him to give himself enough momentum then swiftly swung his other leg up with rotating motion aiming to knock out Katsumi's supportive left leg from under her before she lands her right foot and regain her balanced stance. She winced, releasing his aim but she quickly lifted up her left leg before his blow hits her, just high enough to reveal a big part of her well shaped thigh to him. Now with her both feet in the air, she elevated her torso up again and landed upside-down on the palms of her hands then she instantly flipped backwards two times away from the male before landing on her feet in a crouch.

"That was close..."

"You're not bad but I'm not that bad too..."

The Hunter taunted sarcastically while undusting his cloak from the dirt as he stood up, eying her with a death glare. The lashes of his eyes suddenly twitched realising too late that he totally moved his attention from Kyuseishu and his back is not guarded. He rolled his eyes to the side but Kyuseishu had already appeared behind him and threw a straight punch with his left fist from behind. The punch was mere inches away from reaching the back of the hunter's head but he stepped to the side swiftly dodging it then with high velocity he turned half circle around and grabbed Kyuseishu's dashing forearm tightly with his right hand.

"Too lame to attack from behind."

Kyuseishu remained calm and without any struggling he let the Hunter grab his arm but he simultaneously grasped the male's free arm firmly with his own free hand.

"Katsumi, now!"

The hunter was dumbfounded for a fraction of second but Katsumi had already received Kyuseishu's signal. She dashed towards both of them holding out her both opened palms. A small puff of smoke suddenly appeared around each hand of hers and soon as the smoke vanished, two Kunais were summoned in her hands. She gripped the tow Kunais tightly and quickly threw them forward towards the Hunter Who kept grabbing a hold of Kyuseishu's arm for a moment more. But soon as he realised the attack, he quickly released the male's arm and performed the half handseal of the Tiger, watching closely the two thrown Kunais hurrying towards him.

"I guess I'll quit playing around now."

He whispered as a large, thick amount of sand suddenly dashed upwards from the ground in front of him letting the two Kunais dive into the wall-shaped sand instead of harming him. The dashing amount of sand continued it's wild dash skyward while getting twice thicker and larger within seconds before curving it's path suddenly and heading outwards towards Katsumi with wild might. The female continued to observe the sand closely for a couple of seconds before eventually realising it's offensive aspect beside it's defensive usage that the Hunter just used to block her attack but she wasn't prepared for such kind of counter attack.

"What the hell!?"

She exclaimed nervously and jumped away from the way of the raging sand before it smashes into her.

Realising the current menace of the sand, Kyuseishu suddenly swung his left leg trying to deliver a surprising kick at the Hunter's side without letting go of his arm but the Hunter slapped away Kyuseishu's hand and slid back onto the sand with his feet avoiding the kick then jumped backwards few times swiftly before landing on a medium height sandy hill, while maintaining the half handseal of Ram to manipulate more sand around him with his released Chakra and making thick amounts of sand dash for Katsumi consecutively. She kept flipping backwards constantly from spot to spot trying to dodge the outbursts of sand but she soon started to pant as she landed in a crouch to catch her breathe for a brief moment.

"This is bad ... I can't keep up with these flows of sand!"

She puffed out her breathe again but her eyes suddenly went wide as another flow of sand fell directly towards her from above. She let out a shriek figuring that it's too late for her to dodge.

"Kya!"

As the shriek reached Kyuseishu's ear, he felt a violent shudder rolling into his spine. He was on the other side from the hill that the hunter had landed on so he couldn't watch clearly what was going on in the other side but Katsumi's shriek made him realise that she is in danger.

"Crap!"

He hissed nervously and quickly started to weave a string of handseals completed them with the Horse then Tiger handseal before lifting the handseal in front of his lips while glaring furiously towards the stranger, taking in a long inhale of air.

"I have no other choice... Fire Style - Grand Fire Ball Jutsu!"

A large steam of flames suddenly bursted out from Kyuseishu's mouth as he began to exhale, producing a great, ball shaped fire ball which travelled along the sandy ground with unexpected speed straight towards the Hunter, reaching him in no time. The entire sight was soon blurred completely with a huge cloud of dust and smoke caused by the collision of the fire and the surrounding sand. Kyuseishu stopped exhaling the flames from his mouth and began to pant lightly from exhaustion.

"I think I got him..."

...

A moment of utter silence occurred as the dust began slowly to vanish... seconds later, A silhouette of a human being was seen standing on top of a gigantic black corpse ... As the steam of dust was blown away from around the person completely, whom was the hunter himself, some of his brown reddish hair was revealed and a dark eyes underneath the burned cloth of his black mask. His face is seemingly uncovered!

Kyuseishu glared up towards him with a slight shock as he held down his arms slowly.

"You... Who the hell are you!?"

The red haired Hunter remained calm as he stared down towards Kyuseishu with expressionless face. He was standing ontop of the head of his giant scorpion gripping the side of his black gown. A huge part of it was burned as well.

"Nice one... You also can perform Ninjutsu, I thought kids nowadays deserted that art... Though you almost got me if I haven't saved myself at the very last moment."

His scorpion swung it's huge tail from side to side slowly as he spoke coldly but Kyuseishu had yet something else to be anxious about which is Katsumi. He grinded his teeth as he continued to glare fiercly towards the male while trying to figure out something out from his new look that might lead him to know his true identity which he was trying to hide behind the mask.

"...!"

The Hunter suddenly startled and slid onto his feet to the side without thinking, dodging a surprising punch shooted towards his head from behind.

"!"

He thought that his sand took care of the girl but she reappeared to flip over his calculations. Katsumi smirked as she pulled her fist back after missing him, slightly surprised that he managed to dodge it effectively but she quickly threw up her left foot towards his shoulder.

"Hmph!"

He surprisingly jumped onwards off the scorpion's head and away from the reach of her kick as The scorpion suddenly started to roar loudly, raising it's upper part.

"So you survived my sand attack huh..."

The Hunter murmured as kept dashing onwards in the air while the wind swished the remained part of his cloak.

Kyuseishu parted his legs slightly in a fighting pose as a grave glare mixed with worried expression appeared on his face. He was looking towards Katsumi now as the Hunter temporarily left his eyesight.

"KATSUMI BE CAREFUL!"

She heard his warning but she was already tripping with her feet on top of the scorpion's slippery head while having hard time trying to maintain her balance ontop of it.

"Eeek!"

She gasped as she lowered her upper half down and digged her long nails into the raging Scorpion's skin trying not to fall off but the scorpion kept swaying it's head from side to side roughly while roaring.

"Woah!"

The hunter eventually landed on the ground about ten meters away from Kyuseishu and smirked smugly looking towards him with firm eyes.

"You and that bitch wasted too much of my time... Now I will make an end for this."

he whispered with clear tone and clapped his hands together forming the Tiger handseal. His glare was filled with fury.

"Ninja arts - Sand Burial!"

Kyuseishu suddenly winced realizing that his feet started to drown downwards into the sand before he could even react. The spot around him began to swirl like a whirlpool and loosened making it hard for him to pull his feet up. He growled nervously and looked down only to see that his both knees were already surrounded by the sand only in a matter of second but he just smirked and glared towards the Hunter with a scoffing manner. He knew that there won't be any meaning of struggling after he got trapped.

"Heh... You got me."

He watched Katsumi land safely on the ground after passing a hard time ontop of the scorpion's head before flipping backwards few times consecutively to dodge the claws of the scorpion which continued to strike down the sandy ground aiming to impale her. Her eyes filled with panic suddenly as she casually shifted her head towards Kyuseishu's location realising that the scorpion has drived her a large distance away from him.

"NO! KYUSEISHU!"

She screamed his name out loudly watching the top of his head already getting drowned below the sand surface. She trembled and fell on her knees to the sand, closing her eyes slowly with despair while muttering with some words sorely. It was an unexpected shock for her to witness Kyuseishu getting sucked down easily like that without her being able to help him but... she figured it wasn't too late to rescue him yet if she hurries up and defeats that guy first. raising her Head back up weakly, she noticed the Giant scorpion standing just a few meters in front of her and was ready to strike again with it's huge claws.

"... I can't hold back... I can still save him..."

She stuttered and closed her eyes again tightly as she stopped shivering some.

'No, I've got to save him!'

she suddenly opened her eyes fiercely as the panic gaze on them turned to be a determined glare. then Soon, she swiftly started to weave a string of handseals. /Tiger-Boar-Bird-Monkey-Dog!/

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

She yelled without slapping her hands against the ground, a huge cloud of smoke suddenly puffed around her as a Gigantic shadow elevated one second later from her spot...

After the cloud of smoke has completely blown off from around the spot, Katsumi was seen kneeling on top of the head of a Giant Dinosaur who's head elevated around twenty metres in the air. It's back and the edges of it's tail were covered with sharp scales and big thorns around it's head. It's size in total was nearly bigger than the giant scorpion of the hunter. Katsumi tapped it's head which was covered with minor scales as she started to pant heavily from the strain while glaring forward towards the Hunter who had landed again on top of the scorpion's head.

'Damn it... My Chakra is almost worn out... But I will stop him no matter what.'

She whispered to herself and gave the signal for her Dinosaur to charge at the enemy. The ground started to shake hard under the Dinosaur's massive feet as it started to dash straight towards the scorpion.

"Guaaah!"

The Hunter stared forward towards the dashing Dinosaur calmly with a half grin then he smacked his hand down against the scorpion's skin gently.

"... I am not planning to waste more time here with you little girl... But make sure that if we meet again, I won't let you alive." 'I had to use a too much Chakra in this battle...I didn't expect this resistance from them...'

He whispered to himself as a big cloud of smoke suddenly spreaded around the scorpion and covered them. Soon it vanished leaving no trace to any creature behind...

Katsumi bit her lower lip painfully with depression as she fell off the Dinosaur's head to the sandy ground on her four limbs. Her Dinosaur soon vanished leaving a small clouds of smoke floating around her.

"Ugh..."

A few sweat drops fell down to the ground across her chin as she kept staring down with widened pale eyes not wanting to believe what just happened in front of her eyes. She was supposed to meet him today but that Hunter was faster than her in taking him out...

"I am... I am useless..."

She muttered weakly and raised up her head feeling that her tears were betraying her and not wanting to drop off her eyes although she wanted to cry with all of her strength. She started to sob instead as she began to creep on her knees slowly towards the spot where she had seen Kyuseishu last time before he sank below the sand's surface.

"Forgive me..."

Her quivering tone faded away as she collapsed to the ground on her stomach after reaching halfway the distance towards her destination...


	3. Chapter 3: The Fugitives

..

Two minutes or so passed under the burning sun. Katsumi was laying on her stomach half unconscious but she kept trying to collect herself together... Dead silence fell, before a tiny sound of a dashing water stream suddenly reached her ears making her flinch. Water in the middle of the desert? She thought that she got to be hallucinating after the tragedy that she had to go through but she lifted her head weakly to make sure that what she was hearing wasn't just a whim. only to watch a thin pillar of pure water erupting out from the sandy ground like a fountain just few meters in front of her before falling onto the sand again. Katsumi raised a twitched eyebrow while confusedly staring at the amount of water that started to gather in a humanoid form.

"Huh!?"

Her hazy eyes widened as she parted her shivering lips weakly realising the identity of the person whom his features soon started to clarify within the amount of water.

"K-Kyuseishu...!"

He has already emerged all of his naked body parts from the amount of water and knelt up on his knees before the astonished woman like if he was made of water himself, indeed he was. his pale skin was entirely covered with sweat while he was panting heavily. his clothes were teared off completely except a small fabric covered his private parts. He glanced over Katsumi with half opened eyes which were almost empty of any life signs.

"... Is... he... gone? I used... The last amount of my Chakra-"

He nearly completed to whisper faintly before collapsing back to the ground, passing out...

* * *

The sun was heading slowly to it's sunset sending the last rays of it's pale light upon the large desert.. Kyuseishu and Katsumi were running side by side through the sandy ground, heading for certain location. Their appearances show that they were so strained and some scratches and bruises were seen all over their bare, pale skins.

Kyuseishu Shook his head slightly fixing his gaze forward. His brain was disturbed with a train of thoughts but he tried to maintain his calmness, at least in front of the female.

"It's starting to get dark..."

Katsumi, whom was running to his left side while glancing forward with calm features and holding her arms backwards, shrugged. She wasn't fazed by his nakedness.

"...We are almost there! I know you must be feeling cold but we'll get you new clothes once we reach the village."

He rolled his eyes indifferently but soon a doubtful expression crept up into his face as a sweat drop rolled down slowly upon the side of his head.

"... I was expecting that he would appear in front of us again at anytime but I think he was reassured that he finished me off."

Katsumi looked at him slightly through the corner of her eye with stern look.

"He almost got you twice now. Because you didn't watch out carefully. Don't expect someone to help you every time you fall in trouble!"

Kyuseishu gulped lightly but he scoffed while staring at her with a smug smirk.

"...I would have survived without your interference anyways. You have almost drained all of your Chakra in the battle, heh."

"Look who's talking now!"

She shrugged not looking at him, instead she gazed forward firmly as Sunagakure's high defensive walls appeared soon over her eyevision behind some sandy hills ahead of them. She grinned and glanced back over him.

"Let's go on..."

* * *

It was already night in Sunagakure, the Village Hidden in Sand when they entered it secretly, just not to rise the suspicions. A long corridor attached to a standard house on the first floor of a big building. The darkness made it hard to distinguish which building it was but it was relatively bigger than the surrounding ones.

Katsumi approached the door of the house silently and grabbed it's latch, twisting it before pushing the door open. she looked back slightly towards Kyuseishu over her shoulder and whispered lowly.

"Here we are, come on in..."

the male, who already got a new outfit somehow, nodded before They both stepped into a large, well organised compartment. A medium sized, low desk was set in the middle of the room between two large couches and a large grey carpet was unfolded over the floor. Katsumi bent down and removed her sandals off her petite feet slowly before walking quietly towards the couch on the left side, sighing softly while glancing downwards towards the floor.

"Well..."

she muttered and sat down on the couch gently, rubbing her right bare forearm slowly while watching the male sitting down calmly on the opposite couch to face her. He rose his eyebrows slightly gazing forward at her.

"It's a bit dark here... But it's fine, I can see well. I know why we should keep the lights off."

Katsumi sighed briefly at his words and clutched the side of her unbuttoned shirt, slipping it off herself. she gave a short smile.

"Let's just hurry and do it... I can't tell you that we are totally safe here. This house is still under surveillance."

She uttered. Kyuseishu continued to stare at her as a half grin crossed his lips.

"I know. Your Kazekage must have known about my recent movements so he had probably sent that murderer Hunter to assassinate me...

...But more importantly, now to enter Konoha is nearly impossible. The Hokage must have raised the level of caution around the village by now after I had clashed with those ANBU members before fleeing... He was putting me under surveillance because he assumed that I was working in the shadows to reveal on some of the ancient Ninja Arts which the Ninja elders sealed away and forbade them right after the end of last Shinobi World War."

Katsumi tossed her gown aside on the couch after she had it removed and leaned her upper half forward slightly as she tapped the desk in front of her with her hands gently and gazed up at him, a serious expression adorning her face. She stared at him for two seconds before replying.

"So the Hokage's doubts about you were right ultimately... Anyways... we are together into this but I don't think the Kazekage has put me under surveillance too just because he assumes that I am hosting a secret encounter with a shinobi from Konoha.. Perhaps, since we remain alongside each others, Things will be alright."

A slight cheerful smile crept up into her lips revealing a side of her self softness and inner charisma. Kyuseishu nodded his head lightly in agreement and shifted on the couch a bit, leaning forward while analysing her expression closely for a moment. He felt simply content by being close from her.

"... so let's get started our procedure."

He said while holding out his hands towards the middle of the desk slowly with his palms open. Katsumi nodded briefly and started to mimic his movement by holding out her both opened palms slowly to meet with his above the middle of the desk. They clapped their palms onto each others gently and closed their eyes at the same time before interlocking their fingers together like if they were performing some mysterious ritual. Then they simultaneously lifted their pinkie and index fingers as they kept pressing their opened palms against each others softly, forming a combined handseal in utter silence. Three seconds later, they started to utter together with the same dimmed voice.

""Secret Technique-...""

They nearly whispered before their ears suddenly picked up a sound of a loud noises coming from outside the house which finished with a violent thud. The outdoor of the room suddenly snapped open with force then a several guys wearing the special ANBU uniform of Sunagakure with ANBU masks broke into the room.

As shocking as the moment seemed to be for Kyuseishu and Katsumi, a man who appeared to be the leader of the ANBU squad lifted up his arm while glaring towards them fiercely.

"CAPTURE THEM!"

Katsumi's eyes widened instantly as a shocked expression surfaced on her face. She realised that they were surrounded by those men called ANBU members from all sides. She quickly looked back at Kyuseishu trying to control her pulse.

"What should we do?"

Kyuseishu grinded his teeth as he stood up slightly, observing with a calm gaze the number of the ANBU squad that surrounded them.

"... We have no choice but to fight. They seem determined not to let us get away easily."

He declared with a hint of guiltiness on his voice. When he is going to stop dragging Katsumi into troublesome? He thought that any harm happens to her, he'd be the only one responsible for it.

The ANBU members suddenly dashed towards them furiously at the same time, leaving no chance for Kyuseishu to debate more with himself. Katsumi huffed and quickly unsheathed a short Katana sword strapped to her waist before swinging her blade swiftly deflecting an offensive blade in motion of an ANBU member charged at her from the left side.

Kyuseishu eventually ducked his head down dodging a punch aimed towards him from front then he quickly lifted his both hands to grab the attacker's arm and twisted it harshly producing a sound of crushing bones. Rough sounds of colliding blades, thuds, strikes, stabs, slashing flesh, and smacks followed...

Some minutes later, two silhouettes jumped out from the house's door and started to run away with rapid paces on the road that leads to the village's front gate.

They fled!

Katsumi was panting lightly from the strain while running next to Kyuseishu's left side on the road. She was still relatively calm although the mess she had been through.

"Shit! I didn't expect this sudden break-in... we couldn't take all of them out. The rest of them will sure trail us."

Kyuseishu was as calm but he was fixing his gaze towards a determined location as he ran with incredible speed next to the Kunoichi.

"...They are already trailing us. At least we got an opening to get away."

He whispered and ogled her through the corner of his eyes for a moment.

"Let's hurry and get out of the village before we draw more unwanted attention."

Katsumi narrowed her eyes and glared at him with dumbfounded look.

"What's wrong with that gaze!?"

His brows twitched, not expecting to hear what she just uttered. He looked back ahead of him, smirking, just not to let her notice his blush.

"... n,nothing... Let's just hurry."

Kyuseishu murmured as they finally made it up to the village's exit gate located within the front barrier. He looked up towards the front gate ahead of them and smirked confidently.

"Luckily, there are no guards over there..."

He heard Katsumi giggling softly before whispering with dimmed voice.

"Way to go..."

The sound of their running echoes soon faded away into the darkness of the night...

* * *

A pale light was infiltrating a certain rocky cave through it's entrance. It was an isolated cave located somewhere in the desert within an infinite sea of sand. The moon in the sombre sky was casting it's pale light upon the cave, revealing on a person who was inside it. It was Kyuseishu who leaned silently with his back against one of the cave's internal walls, folding his arms across his chest. Some locks of his dark, shaggy hair fell randomly over his forehead. He was staring down towards the floor of the cave in utter silence.

"...It's almost midnight."

The female that was crouching three meters away from him inside the cave, tapped the floor lightly with her tiny fingertips as she glanced towards the entrance of the cave calmly.

"... It takes three days to reach the Leaf Village. Well, at this rate we will be there by tomorrow evening or after tomorrow... That's if we don't encounter any obstacles in the way... But why you need to return to your village anyways? Didn't you say that entering it will be nearly impossible after your plan of leaving it secretly had failed?"

She murmured then shifted her gaze towards the male only to notice that he was staring at her deeply for an extended moment of time. She blinked innocently and rose a wondering eyebrow.

"Is something the matter!?"

She questioned but couldn't pinpoint which region of her body he was staring at or the purpose of his meaningful stare. A fainted smile crept up eventually into his lips as he kept staring at her with his meaningful gaze.

"..."

"ah!"

She hummed, finally capturing his message. He was eying her womanly body. Without uttering a word, the female stood up slowly and walked up to him with light steps. She grinned as she stopped facing him and planted her hands on his hips before proceeding to make any eye contact with him.

He gave a gentle smirk and rested his hands on either side of hers, holding her close from himself as he looked deeply in her oceanic eyes.

"..."

She couldn't resist from leaning with her body even closer from him and placed the opened palms of her hands on his shoulders gently, feeling mysterious warmth engulfing her. It's happening... She felt her body swaying between his arms as she parted her lips slightly and lowered her eyelids a bit, submitting herself entirely to him and forgetting all the environment around her.

"..."

Kyuseishu moved his face close from her pretty face and neatly rested his lips on hers while using his hands to pull her more towards himself. He never estimated that she'd be too easy to submit to him, nor he'd get enough courage once to hold her closely. He felt her pressing her body intensively against him while closing her eyes. Their lips nearly pressed against each others in a passionate kiss. Katsumi felt her cheeks flushing with a heated blush but she remained calm trying to relax as she receives her first kiss from him...

But suddenly,

...A luminous void suddenly shined upon them like a mysterious eye of a legendary creature. It appeared from nowhere right next to them over the cave's entrance, Only to cut their passionate moment. They tensed up, not letting go of each others as their widened eyes shifted to observe the intruder but a giant tail like spear suddenly swung down towards them from above crushing the rocks of the cave's entrance on them and demolishing a huge part of the cave...

Katsumi squeaked as she jumped backwards multiple times to avoid the crumbling rocks before landing back on the sandy ground while staring forward at the thick cloud of dust with intimidated look. Her heart was still beating fast.

"...What the hell was that!?"

She rolled her eyes around worryingly looking for Kyuseishu within the steam of dust that covered the environment around her. But soon her ears caught the sound of Kyuseishu landing somewhere close from her. He was ducking ontop of a big rock about fifteen meters in the Southwest direction from Katsumi's current spot. Kyuseishu was eying closely the steam of dust that raised due to the sudden strike with his slight widened eyes.

"...That's..."

Katsumi turned her head towards him slightly, hearing his stunned voice. she was panting lightly while trying to assume who's behind that unexpected assault on them. She wasn't sure of it but she realised that Kyuseishu might figured it out before her.

"?"

A loud roar suddenly sliced off the short moment of silence as a giant creature started to emerge from the sandy ground making it quake violently. The creature was swishing it's long tail slowly displaying a familiar appearance.

Kyuseishu gulped lightly as he stood up, observing the gigantic creature carefully.

"... That can't be...the Scorpion of that Hunter we confronted earlier!"

Katsumi placed a step back as she continued to stare at the monstrous animal with slight twitching brows.

"...!"

She suddenly lifted her both arms horizontally in front of her face. The scorpion dropped the huge claws of it's front legs wildly onto the sandy ground causing it to start quaking violently beneath their feets, enough for them to lose balance. The monster stabbed the earth again with the same mighty strength, tearing off several rocks from the ground and blasting them off in different directions also producing a massive shockwave. Kyuseishu leaped up high into air as he gasped faintly, trying to shield his face with his both arms. The blasted wave of wind was wild enough to rupture the flesh of any nearby human being.

"Gu!... What an immense force... It is even able to produce such a demolisher shockwave..."

... Not far away from him, Katsumi was sliding backwards with her both feet onto the sand, shielding her face partially with her left forearm.

"Eeeek!..."

She grumbled, trying to see through the thick steam of dust blown in the air but she suddenly shifted her eyes downwards, noticing a crack dividing the ground just between her feet.

"!"

She yelped and flipped backwards swiftly before the crack swallows her down into the unknown.

Kyuseishu eventually landed on the ground just as the blasted wave cooled down. He narrowed his eyes while a sweat drop rolled down on his forehead.

"Damn it! I have to put an end to that annoying scorpion. Why was it summoned here anyways... I smell something fishy..."

He whispered to himself and quickly bit his thumb hard enough to make some blood flow out from it as he ducked down, allowing the tiny trickles of his blood to drip off his thumb onto the ground. he then slammed his right palm quickly onto the blood that tainted the ground before exclaiming.

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

. . .

"SUMMONING JUTSU!"

A quintuple seal was planted on the ground underneath Kyuseishu's palm. he glanced forward firmly towards the scorpion which stood about thirty meters away to collect his own Chakra (spiritual energy) onto one point somewhere around the scorpion's massive body.

"It'd be hard from this distance though... I need to concentrate more..."

The scorpion roared and lifted it's front legs, ready to blast off another shockwave. Whilst Kyuseishu kept pressing his palm against the seal trying to suppress his anxiety and focus on his procedure before the monster attacks again.

A transparent, large ghost-like silhouette suddenly started to grasp the Giant scorpion's back with numerous, massive, white legs, soon wrapping itself tightly around the black scorpion, attempting to paralysis it's movements for a while. The scorpion roared roughly as it began to squirm around to free itself from the mysterious creature summoned by Kyuseishu which soon appeared to be a giant spider.

Kyuseishu eventually clapped his hands together, glaring towards his spider as the scorpion continued to snarl like a rampaging bull trying to break free from the tight grip.

"NOW! KUTCHO!"

Kyuseishu shouted out and his spider unleashed a tiny hiss sounded like a whizz as it started to disappear slowly merging with the air around it and dragging the scorpion along into another dimension. The operation lasted a mere seconds then nothing was left on the dark spot expect some hovering puffs of smoke and dust.

"Awesome! You did it!"

Katsumi yelled gleefully while staring towards the location where the Spider had left off. She sighed of relief before gazing back towards Kyuseishu with a big grin on her pale face but she quickly furrowed her brows.

"That was surely a terrible one..." Kyuseishu was panting lightly, paying no attention to her compliments. He drained a large amount of his Chakra already although he believed that the greater nuisance didn't arrive yet. Something kept telling him eagerly that a huge menace was coming and that monster was just the beginning of the trouble. He knelt down on one knee and shook his head sighing.

"...Let's get out of here, hurry!"

``So he teleported my scorpion away...``

A mysterious voice suddenly whispered from within the darkness which made both Katsumi and Kyuseishu tense up. Without giving an alarm of his presence, a medium height male, bore a black mask on his face and long, black cloak on his body with black shinobi sandals- was standing just few meters behind Katsumi.

``Didn't I say that we will meet again soon, eh?``

Katsumi winced immediately hearing the male utter smugly from behind her back. She instantly recognised that toneless voice of his but she gave a sarcastic smirk, trying not to sound terrified in front of him.

"Heh! We are not the same as before so don't underestimate us."

She whispered calmly without turning around to face him making sure that the confidence she added to her voice didn't sound fake. Kyuseishu started to stand up slowly shifting his head to the right side in the other male's direction. His doubts were really accurate.

"You finally showed up again... You should've realised that I wouldn't fall for your trap so easily.. Now I know the techniques you use so you won't get the upper hand here even if the nature of the surrounding area is not in our advantage so don't take us lightly..."

The hunter just chuckled boldly.

The cool breeze of the desert was winding lightly the rim of his cloak. He appeared to be completely laid-back like if he was sure of his victory.

"...You think that you saw all my power earlier!? If you measure it like that, then I assure you that I don't show my real power to the low level fighters like you..."

He sighed faintly before resuming his cold speech with the same expressionless voice.

"I was just toying with you, but now I will make sure to chop your head off with my own hand."

Few dark clouds covered the full moon partially causing the area to turn bit darken over the three individuals.

A soft sigh escaped Kyuseishu's lips while he quickly pulled out six Shurikens from his pouch and held them between his fingers, three Shurikens in each hand, as he glared at the hunter darkly.

"Don't...Underestimate us... We're not going to back off this time. Tell me the motivation of the Kazekage that made him want my head!"

He said nervously, The hunter just shrugged and Katsumi turned around slowly to face the Hunter, tracing a round circle on the sandy ground with the heel of her sandal she wore on her right foot as she glanced back firmly towards Kyuseishu who stood about thirty meters behind the obscure guy, a little to the left of her vision.

"Kyuseishu, he won't be able to defeat both of us together this time, Let's do it!"

She said with neutral confidence and suddenly stuffed her right hand into her large weapon pouch that was attached to the back of her waist, reaching for a weapon. The hunter displayed a sarcastic grin underneath his mask as he closed his eyes and folded his arms under his chest.

"...I didn't want to kill you, sand brat... The Kazekage haven't ordered me to take you out along him."

He said. Katsumi narrowed her eyes, giving him a stern glare. She felt that he seemingly wants to make her forfeit the battle and let Kyuseishu fight alone.

"..."

Kyuseishu dashed suddenly towards the Hunter, tossing the six shurikens in his hands at him successively. He thought that wasting more time won't be on his and Katsumi's favour. The hunter tilted his head to the left side, smirking. Without moving a fibre.

"Hasty."

He whispered calmly as he pulled out six kunais from his long sleeves quickly and spun himself around striking Kyuseishu's dashing Shurikens in mid-air with his Kunais before they reach him, deflecting them away...

Katsumi took advantage of the situation and jumped upwards into air as she grabbed a Windmill Shuriken in her right hand. She performed a swift flips mid-air before tossing the big Shuriken, that resembled to a star with four curvy blades, towards the hunter's head with considerable acceleration.

"Take this!"

A Sweat drop rolled down on Kyuseishu's cheek as he eyed the Windmill Shuriken that slashed the air as it rotated with nearly inescapable speed towards the Hunter who simply started to weave a couple of handseals quickly without even looking at the upcoming projectile.

A thick wall of sand suddenly erupted from the ground in front of him and soon shielded him from the four directions within few seconds. Katsumi's Windmill Shuriken collided with the sandy shield and fell down to the ground without even leaving a minor scratch on the sand shield even with the pre-eminent sharpness of it's blades.

"...Haven't you learned the lesson yet?" The Hunter taunted, as the sand shield around him started to scatter and collapse down onto the ground slowly around him.

Katsumi was left stunned observing the way that he made her attack useless. But Kyuseishu smirked at the same time as he grabbed a Kunai in his right hand, staring forward over the Hunter with confident look.

"... I get it now!"

He murmured as Katsumi landed back on the ground with her feet while panting lightly. she looked forward as her forehead started to sweat.

"Damn it! My weapons can't even cut through his sand shield... It's an impenetrable defence..."

'It's the same technique Gaara sama the former Kazekage used to use... Then, defeating this guy could be nearly impossible...'

She muttered to herself and suddenly tensed up slightly as she shifted her gaze towards Kyuseishu watching him running forward while shoving his Kunai towards the other male. He eventually clenched the fist of his free hand as he stopped few inches in front of the Hunter and threw a quick uppercut punch towards his face. he spun the Kunai around the index finger of his other hand at the same time watching a tiny amount of sand blocking his punch before it could reach his foe's face.

"GOTCHA!"

Kyuseishu yelled and simultaneously threw the Kunai towards the male's throat which wasn't guarded by the sand. The Hunter widened his eyes shockingly as the Kunai pierced through his throat almost immediately, before he could even shift his attention towards it. His mask fell over while the skin of his face slowly began to turn pale... But surprisingly, no blood trickles flowed out from his throat even though it was slitted open...


	4. Chapter 4: Bloody Sand

This is the forth chapter of the splendid story.

Don't read without leaving a review.

Chapter 4 ~ Bloody Sand

* * *

... A few sombre clouds floated across the dark sky of the midnight.

The pale moon didn't seem to be on it's full spark tonight although it was almost on it's complete form...

Katsumi rested her hands on her hips while staring confusedly forward towards certain location. she was panting lightly and sighing of relief. Her entire body was still heated up like if she was just sunbathing although the weather of the desert in the night was pretty cold for her thin skin to resist. It was The heat of the unpredictable battle responsible for elevating up her temperature and prompting her to feel like if she was burning from inside, especially on her feet, those seemed to absorb down all the heat from her body.

"... Did we get him!?"

She murmured nervously, looking back at Kyuseishu who sighed as he stepped few steps back away from the Hunter's immobilized corpse.

He looked up towards Katsumi with a slight smirk on his lips as two sweat drops rolled down upon one of his head sides. He wasn't sure himself from their so called victory.

"...I think so..."

Katsumi blinked, sensing some hesitation on his way of speaking but she grinned and started to walk forward slowly in her sandals towards him, letting soft sighs exit her dry lips.

"...Then let's be off."

Kyuseishu nodded but he suddenly narrowed his eyes as he observed the assumed corpse of the hunter more closely.

"!?"

A suspicious look crept up into his face as his eyes went wide a fraction. The assumed corpse of the hunter was a mere sand statue which soon crumbled down upon the ground in front of Kyuseishu's astonishment.

"A sand clone...!?"

He exclaimed, feeling like his lips started to quiver unwillingly. He couldn't help but to take a cautious step back.

"When did he...!?"

Katsumi twitched, witnessing their fake victory proven by the crumbled sand statue which was disguised as the hunter. She have seen that Jutsu before plus she could even perform it because it was a basic Jutsu that any Genin from the Sand village must learn but she was surprised now that this guy had used it in the very last second to save himself from decay.

"Wah...!"

She gasped because she eventually watched the sandy ground behind Kyuseishu starting to quake.

"BEHIND YOU!"

She yelled at him at the same time wondering why didn't he notice it himself. Kyuseishu winced receiving her warning and rolled his eyes to the corners immediately, glancing behind him through his shoulder, only to watch the Hunter emerging out from the sandy ground mere meters behind him.

'I see... He used a substitution Jutsu with that sand clone... But when!?'

He questioned himself while eying his foe carefully. His foe finally lifted his both hands slowly in front of his chin and formed the Tiger handseal as he glared at Kyuseishu darkly.

"You keep impressing me, Leaf brat.. But I found it quite amusing."

Kyuseishu trembled and glared at the other male furiously as a sweat drop rolled down his pale cheek.

"... You."

The hunter smirked smugly as the sand started to gather from the ground and whirl around him slowly.

"Your capability to look through the weak spot in my defence is incredible... I substituted myself with a sand clone at the very last second before your attack reach me."

He stated. Kyuseishu narrowed his eyes suddenly remembering the amount of sand that blocked his punch before he tosses his Kunai towards the Hunter's neck. He gritted his teeth nervously without shifting his ablaze glare away from the male.

"... Don't tell me when you used the sand to stop my punch... in that moment... You predicted my next attack so you prepared a sand clone beforehand..."

He murmured, watching the Hunter parting his legs slightly upon the ground and glancing at him with wooden expression.

"Yup... When you said ``Now I think I get it!`` it made me realise that you figured out the weak spot in my defence. So yeah, I can't keep up the sand shield around me more than five seconds before it crumbles down... but your realisation came too late..."

He said and Kyuseishu placed a step back, narrowing his brows sharply against him.

"Whatever..."

Katsumi was clenching her fists nervously while looking with perturbed expression towards the Hunter, trying to presume what he was up to. the cool wind breeze started to sway some of her long hair strands behind her back.

"Kyuseishu! What are you waiting for..."

She uttered. Kyuseishu turned his head back slightly in her direction and stared at her for a moment across his shoulder.

"Katsumi... Get out of here! this place now is dangerous for you."

He shouted at her before looking back forward with plucky eyes.

"This is my battle... I'll fight him alone. Furthermore, he is after me not you...!"

Being protective eh? Katsumi thought to herself and stomped the ground with her foot indignantly. her eyebrows frowned as she gazed over at him firmly.

"NO WAY! I CAN'T LET YOU HANDLE HIM ALL ALONE! UNDERSTAND?"

"Too late!"

The Hunter suddenly called stopping Katsumi's train of thoughts. He eventually clapped his hands hard onto each others.

"RYUUSA BAKURYUU NO JUTSU! [QUICKSAND TSUNAMI!]

All the sand of the environment suddenly started to elevate from the ground in front of him, forming enormous waves of sand that quickly reached a height of more than 30 meters above the ground. It was like all the sand amounts on the ground were summoned to form that giant ocean of pure sand manipulated by the Hunter.

Without any suspense, the raging Tsunami of sand dashed forward towards Kyuseishu and Katsumi, covering their line of sight entirely while drifting backwards everything that might stand in it's way with an immensely destructive power.

Katsumi widened her eyes shockingly while staring at the overwhelming incoming amounts of sand. She felt all her body parts shudder watching the inescapable threat approaching but it was already too late for her to think about a solution to deal with the aggravated situation Because there's no escaping from an actual Tsunami like this.

"...!"

Kyuseishu cupped his arms in front of his face and chest trying to shield his vital organs at the least. Once he observed that the sand Tsunami started to form, he figured that he'll get overtaken by the overflow before he could even attempt to use any trick.

The dashing Tsunami already flooded a large area and eventually swept Kyuseishu several meters backwards before covering him up completely but he managed to pull out his head from the sand somehow only to warn out Katsumi, just before his head gets drowned under another flow of sand.

"KATSUMI! STAND STILL!"

He felt the heavy amounts of sand suffocating him and squishing his body wildly like if he was receiving several stabs at the same time with a jagged blade in every part of his drifted body before he finally loses consciousness.

"Gahh..."

Katsumi gasped as the Sand Tsunami reached her after Kyuseishu. She stood still like he had guided her although she wasn't sure if that was the best option left for her to do. Soon, her consciousness faded away as well before she could feel with her skin being ripped off her flesh mercilessly.

...

Few minutes passed after the sand Tsunami had flooded the entire area in front of the Hunter. The raging sand overflow finally calmed down and began to solidify slowly forming a thick layer of sand stabilized around 7 meters over the original platform of sand before the outcome of the sand Tsunami that engulfed a very vast area in the Hunter's line of sight.

He held his hands down and rested them on his hips, sighing briefly while observing the extreme damage and changes on the whole landscape he made within mere minutes.

"... Well done."

He muttered confidently and turned around to walk off, tugging the bottom of his long cloak on the sand behind him.

It was just another successful assassination mission that he didn't feel honored by fulfilling it. He was just a tool made to kill, that's him. And he believed that every other Ninja are tools manipulated only to serve certain hidden purposes.

The east horizon started to lighten up slowly with the approaching dawn. The Hunter continued to walk away before pausing suddenly and turned his head back slightly to look behind him, narrowing his eyes. He was overconfident of his victory until this second when he watched a human arm began to emerge out from the sand behind him which made him look surprised.

"!?"

The human arm extended up over the sandy platform before consecutively emerging out it's shoulder then a head finally popped out. It was Kyuseishu, his body was stained with sand and blood trickles everywhere. He was panting heavily as he fully managed to emerge his upper half out from the sand with several wounds and bruises all over his pale skin.

His flak Jacket and the grey shirt underneath were ripped to to small parts over his skin. He lifted up his head weakly and groaned as he stuttered faintly

"Katsumi..."

The Hunter continued to stare at Kyuseishu silently in slight disbelief as he turned around completely to face him. He admitted to himself that the guy before him was no an ordinary person to get out alive from that destructive assault which could take down an entire army.

"... You have such an incredible endurance... But why you want to live that much?"

He whispered and started to walk slowly towards Kyuseishu examining his injured body closely with expressionless look. He believe that he was dying even if he managed to pull himself out with miracle but miracles don't happen twice. After a few paces, He stood a few meters in front of the grounded male and smirked while staring down at him.

"Why you want to live that much? I think life and death are the same for the Ninja and you don't even seem a bright one."

"Shut up!"

Kyuseishu yelled aggressively, refusing to lesson to the other's teaching. He was in no condition to hear anything anyways but the Hunter continued to utter carelessly.

"You are done for anyway... Your wounds won't heal even if a high skilled medical Ninja tries to heal them. however, your chance of finding a medical Ninja in this vast desert is impossible so it's the end for you... The sand particles that infiltrated your wounds will prevent them from healing up until they decay and It'll take less than two days for your whole body to rot. Well, It would be blissful for me to cut off your head right now but it will be more blissful if you die slowly, because you wasted too much of my precious time as a hunter."

He said patiently and turned around then started to walk away again with slow steps before fading completely into darkness...

Kyuseishu eventually fell back on his elbows after emerging the rest of his bottom half out from the sand. He didn't contain the full meaning behind what the Hunter said because his mind was cloudy but he understood that he got less than two days to live. He rose his head up weakly, trying to spot any trace left for the Hunter but the other's silhouette had already vanished from his sight.

"Damn... You..."

He stuttered faintly and pressed his both palms onto the ground, lifting up his torso hardly. He felt like his body weighted more than a Tonne and the stingy aches on his body didn't want to stop. It felt like if he was burning alive slowly from inside out.

"At least, I... can still... move... barely... Ughh... Water... I need water..."

A sweat drop rolled down across the pale skin of his face and mixed with the big blood trickles that stained his chin before the mixture of blood and sweat dripped down to the sandy ground.

His bare left shoulder was completely covered with blood that was still flowing out from a deep wound on the meaty part of his shoulder. The pad of the same shoulder was broken. His stomach and chest were also filled with several critical bruises and injuries. A big patch of blood was smearing the sandy ground around his body, he was literally sinking in his blood that was still flowing out from almost every region of his body.

"Katsumi... I have to rescue her..."

He wasn't certainly worried about himself at this moment. As he murmured, he rolled around himself heavily then started to crawl weakly with his four limbs, dragging his half dead body onto the sand towards a certain location.

"Katsumi..."

He groaned and collapsed again on his face onto the ground but he suddenly started to dig into the sand with his bare fingers. he never stopped panting heavily and feeling the pain growing with every second he spends longer.

"Hang on there..."

He tossed the solidified masses of sand out from his way rapidly as he continued to dig more into the surface with his bare hands, trying to create a tunnel to extract Katsumi through it.

"Hngh..."

He felt that the sand grains were scratching the skin of his hands harshly and penetrate the wounds on his hands, prompting them to bleed again as he kept digging with the same determination while whimpering faintly from the extreme pain. By this point he lost any feel with his fingers like if the critical damage had reached his nerves as well.

The several wounds on his both wrists started to bleed again too, drawing out more blood as more sand penetrated his skin, rupturing his flesh and tissues. But he never stopped digging.

"Argh..."

He grunted. His eyesight slowly started to get blurry as the motion of his hands slowed down until he finally stopped digging into the sand after some minutes and narrowed his eyes, staring down desperately at his own hands coated with blood like a slaughtered sheep.

"... I... I can't..."

He muttered with quivering voice and shut his eyes closed...

He felt the pain on his body expanding to reach his inner organs as well. It was like several knives slashing through his tissues at the same time but it was actually the sand doing it's job inside his body.

He pressed his teeth hard together trying to endure the severing pain.

"I CAN'T AFFORD TO HOLD BACK!"

He gasped faintly and started to open his eyes slowly, grasping two fistful of sand with his hands in frustration. He began to feel the guilt of dragging Katsumi with him into this mess but his pale eyes suddenly twitched while noticing a black cloth wrapped around two tiny fingertips which surfaced mere inches above the sand right before his palms.

"!"

He blinked surprisingly as he robotically began to remove the sand masses from around the two surfaced fingers, soon revealing on the rest of the buried hand before using an extra effort to finally pull the whole buried arm from the sand. It was Katsumi's arm and it was filled with numerous bruises and wounds but it was still bleeding which gave Kyuseishu a slight hope to find her alive with the rest of her body parts intact.

"...Her veins are still pulsing..."

he whispered in excitement, revealing with his hands on the top of her buried head before shaking off the sand from her messy hair. He saw that her eyes were closed but her swollen lips were shaped into a peaceful smile like if she was actually sleeping.

"..."

Kyuseishu rested the female's head gently on his lap after dragging out her whole body carefully from the sand then started to observe her body closely as he sat up on his rear. Her dark hair locks were scattered almost over her whole face and covered some of the deep wounds and scars on it.

"Thank God... She is ... still alive."

He whispered to himself and released a fainted sigh, eying Katsumi's injuries with concerned look. The wound were only on a part of her left side and bare stomach.

"...!"

He blinked, noticing something bizarre. Katsumi's clothes were teared apart almost completely but he figured that her injuries were only skin-deep compared to his. The female suddenly started to open her shivery eyes, giving him no chance to wonder about her injuries and her eyevision slowly began to clarify, picturing Kyuseishu's familiar figure above her.

She shifted her body suddenly, trying to stand up but she fell on her rear onto the sand.

"Ow!"

She held her head with her hand, still not being able to remember what happened. She felt dizzy like if she was about to throw up her viscera.

"Ugh... Where am I!? W-what happened?"

She questioned not regarding the male who gently laid his palms on her shoulders and leaned a bit forward towards her. Her image was still swaying in his eyes and he figured it's just about time for him to faint again.

"... You have to pull yourself together... It's probably a miracle that we are still alive that's why he left after making sure that we'll die anyways..."

He murmured with weak voice. Even his voice was betraying him now. Katsumi shifted her head right and left rapidly, scanning the area around them as she puts her left hand on the ground beside her crossed left leg. She realised that Sand is still everywhere so she wasn't in heaven nor in hell like she had assumed, although what she been through was a literal hell for her.

She nodded her head slightly and looked downwards over her knees, clutching the side of her head with her hand.

"Ahhh!... I feel my head is heavy like a damned rock!"

She grumbled while a heavy sigh and looked back up blankly at the male over her. Her reddened cheeks and lips were still shivering lightly.

"I don't think my injuries are fatal although I barely survived from being suffocated to death under these tonnes of sand ...thank you..."

She paused for two seconds before adding with the same brittle voice.

"You were here at least to rescue me... However, look at your injuries, you should have tried to take care of your wounds instead of pushing yourself to the edge to help me."

She spoke while eying him with concerned look mixed with slight empathy. Kyuseishu stared at her for a bit longer and removed his hands from her shoulders.

"I don't care..."

He said, imagining that the scene should've been embarrassing to both of them if they weren't in this hard condition. His breathing pace was still heavy and he felt like dying but showing his weakness in front of a woman especially Katsumi was the most humiliating thing he'd do. He didn't want her to pity him

"... I think I won't live longer with these enormous wounds on my body anyways... Argh... The sand has penetrated throughout my body and... It will work to prevent the wounds from closing up from the inside so it's useless to-"

His eyes suddenly widened before he completes his sentence and he quickly covered his mouth with his right palm as he began to cough up blood intensively. Katsumi winced as her eyebrows twitched.

"Wh-wah!"

She gasped and leaned close from him, resting her hands on the back of his shoulders.

"Kyuseishu!"

She yelped worryingly. Kyuseishu breathes became heavier as let his chin drop over his chest. A thin line of blood flowed down from the corner of his mouth as he moved his hand away.

"..."

He groaned silently, feeling that his consciousness began to fade from the extreme blood loss and his heart began to beat slower. Katsumi stared at him anxiously for a while as she knelt up on her both knees beside him.

"Are, Are you okay!?"

She asked, caressing his shoulders lightly. Kyuseishu placed his hands on the ground while he continued to stare down quietly at the blood that dripped from his mouth tainting the sand below him.

"Erk... I am done for... I think... The sand already began to damage my vital organes... Ha... Ha... Ha... I can't even feel the rest amount of Chakra remained in my body... "

Katsumi's eyes widened more, hearing him say so. She bit her lower lip lightly while gazing upon him with furrowed eyebrows. She couldn't believe it's the end for him here.

"... Wait! If we enter Konoha in time... We might find a Medical-Nin to heal you. My injuries aren't critical though, I'll carry you."

She said, grinding her teeth lightly with agitation while looking to the side away from him. She was ready to do anything in order to save him.

Kyuseishu arched his dark eyebrows, frowning as he glanced up at her harshly.

"... Your current condition ain't any better than mine... Don't try to hide your suffering, I can obviously feel it!"

He sighed heavily with irritation before continuing.

"I can move still... I won't let you carry me..."

Katsumi tilted her head and huffed lightly, pressing her lips against each others without looking at him.

"Don't worry about me... I managed to absorb the offensive Chakra fused with the sand once it attempted to penetrate through my wounds... So, basically I am fine for now... The sand was fused with high amounts of Chakra, that's why it's terrible."

Kyuseishu blinked few times in a row and rose his head to look at her through the corner of his vision with dumbfounded look.

"What?! Is that so..."

He took a full minute to grasp entirely the fact that Katsumi had just uttered about herself which he never knew before. He eventually realised that there still too much to know about her if he manages to live longer.

"Anyways... staying here anymore is not in our advantage... let's get going!"

He uttered and used some of his remained strength to lift his upper half in order to stand up but he felt Katsumi's soft hand holding his right upper arm as she exclaimed.

"Wait! You shouldn't move now with these critical injuries!"

But he stood up while gasping faintly, ignoring her. He pulled off his arm from her hand harshly as another line of blood started to drip down from the other corner of his mouth. He preferred to die while walking at least if he were to die.

"I am fine with it..."

"But..."

Katsumi muttered as she continued to stare up at him anxiously. She digged her fingers into the sand in front of her knees without shifting up from her position. She'd never seen such a hard-headed person like him who refuses to get help even in such miserable condition. But she got more dumbfounded when he smirked confidently while wiping the blood off the corners of his mouth with the back of his bony hand.

"Let's hurry up and get going... I know a person in Konoha who will surely agrees to heal us."

He whispered as he lifted his eyes off the ground and looked onwards towards the horizon in his line of sight where the sun began to emerge slowly, spreading it's first rays of light upon the desert.

Katsumi rose a wondering eyebrow and stared up at his face for a moment with doubtful look.

'... I don't believe he's even able to withstand these fatal wounds and stand up...'

She whispered to her inner self and slowly stood up in front of him before starting to shake off the sand from her skin sluggishly. A minimal part of her clothes only remained intact after the assault of the sand Tsunami, enough to cover up the private regions of her slim body. She sighed softly and shook her shoulders as she looked up at the male.

"Alright... If you say so..."

She said and slid her right hand inside the pocket of her ripped skirt pulling out three small, brownish pills. She then held out her hand to Kyuseishu offering him the pills.

"Swallow these blood pills... They'll help to restore some of the blood you've lost..."

Kyuseishu gazed at her hand for a moment before smiling then he reached for one pill and quickly tossed it into his mouth.

"Thank you... Keep the rest two for yourself. You need them more than I do."

He whispered faintly, staring at her face with grateful expression only to realise that the fatigue made her look more pretty.


	5. Chapter 5:The Mightiest Woman in Konoha

I finally decided to introduce the first canon character from the original show and manga. After the 20 years timeskip, It became an undeniable fact that Sakura is now the strongest woman in the Leaf village, not only by inheriting Tsunade's abilities and strengths but also by inheriting her fierce will as a medical Kunoichi.

Chapter ~ 5  
Enter The Mightiest Kunoichi in Konoha

* * *

30 minutes later...

Katsumi grabbed her left injured arm, squeezing it softly with her tiny fingers. She let out a tiny whimper as she began to utter faintly.

"I think my arm is broken too..."

She rose her head slightly to look towards the male who was standing a few feets away from her.

"Shouldn't we get moving already? We took enough time to rest."

Kyuseishu was staring silently into the sandy ground extended over the line of his eyesight. His upper half and his both arms were wrapped up entirely with huge, white bandages made him look like a mummy except for his hands. The thick bandages were lightly splattered with reddish stains due to the bleeding wounds underneath them. He parted his lips slightly letting out a soft sigh and rested his hand down on his left knee.

"... Don't worry... That bastard won't return now ... However, If we reach the Hidden Leaf when it's day already, we would have better chances to find a Medical-Nin without raising doubts around us... hng!"

He paused to take in an inhale into his longs and held his side with one hand, clenching his teeth lightly.

"Hmph, It seems... It seems the sand is still doing it's job effectively inside my body..."

He murmured while staring down deeply at his right hand placed on his knee for a couple of moments remembering that he shouldn't express his pain in front of Katsumi. She eyed him silently with eyes filled with mixture of concern and worrisome then she sluggishly held her hands down over her hips waiting for him to spill out their next procedure without leaving her in a killer suspense. She had noticed that he wasn't scattered in his thoughts even with his current hard condition.

"..."

Kyuseishu eventually lifted his eyes off the ground slowly and gazed forward with determined expression.

"DEPART!"

The two of them suddenly disappeared leaving a small clouds of dust hovering over the ground of sand and blood.

...

One hour later...

The sun started to send it's pale rays slowly upon the woods, clarifying the sight some by some while wiping out the remained darkness from underneath the thick trees of the silent forest.

As the tiny dew droplets stuck on the leaves begun to reflect the sun rays, it gave a shiny, glamorous luster to the entire landscape with the raise of the sunshine. Two persons were crashing the ground with their feets as they ran across the trees, dashing forward towards a certain destination while arching their backs a bit. They were holding their arms backwards as they run to grant themselves better momentum.

One of the two persons was Kyuseishu. He hopped up to a tree branch above him without pausing and stomped on the branch with his both feet before leaping onwards to the next tree while fixing his gaze forward. Katsumi leaped onwards behind him after kicking herself off the same branch swiftly as she lifted up her arms above her head every time she prepares to land. She wasn't wearing any coat over her ruptured clothes so her shirt was swaying up to follow her motion, revealing partially the sexy curves of her fruity body. Her facial expression was relatively calm and she was gazing forward firmly with slight arched eybrows... She eventually parted her pale lips and whispered.

"Anyways..."

Kyuseishu looked back at her slightly across his shoulder while jumping up off a fluffy tree branch.

"What is it!?"

"What makes you sure about it? I mean, I don't like this feeling right now... We are approaching from Konoha more and more but isn't it weird to be so quiet around? You said if we enter the village when it is already a day, we won't confront any obstacles but this utter silence around calls for suspicions... We have to stay alert, they might set up traps here and there to hunt you down thinking that you might decide to return to Konoha for some reason."

She spoke as she landed with her both feet swiftly on the tree branch behind him while throwing her arms backwards. The wind blew up her silk hair strands softly behind her head as she did so.

Kyuseishu smirked while gazing forward with confident look as he jumped off his current spot on a fluffy tree branch down to the dirt while holding his arms skyward. His current physical condition wouldn't allow him to even walk few steps without collapsing if he wasn't possessing a strong will and faith.

"They'd never expect me to come back so they won't set any traps."

He whispered faintly as the wind swished the worn black coat that he was wearing over his bandages. He ran onwards on the solid ground throwing his arms backwards likewise and feeling a weird nostalgia to his village the more he approaches from it like if he had abandoned it for several years. It's not like he had friends there anyways.

Katsumi landed on the ground few meters behind him lowering herself down in a cat-like stance before starting to run onwards as she fixed her blank gaze on him.

"What makes you sure about it?"

She wondered watching Kyuseishu leaping up swiftly over a low branch.

He took about two minutes before replying to her wonder.

"... The current Hokage is a cocky bastard. I am highly reassured that he wouldn't expect me to return after abandoning the village on my free will... I believe he is busy with other serious issues."

Katsumi's hazel eyes narrowed slightly with concern, presuming a more clarified statement from him.

"... The Hokage?"

Kyuseishu exhaled out a light breathe as a sweat drop rolled down on the side of his head. He believed that his body attained it's limits and he might collapse soon without being able to stand again.

"Yeah... Like I told you before. The Hokage was the one who ordered several ANBU members to capture me before I could leave the village. The ANBU squads of Konoha work under his direct orders since the ANBU'S commander is absent."

Katsumi sharpened her eyes as she stared at him while listening to him with disturbed concern before murmuring slowly.

"So... it'll be difficult for us to enter Konoha in this case, if we possibly get noticed and... Plus, if we would have to confront our enemies in our current conditions... Think of it..."

Her eyes widened with anxiety as she pictured that possibility happening in her mind.

"We will get defeated and captured easily for sure!"

Kyuseishu shrugged his shoulders and smirked.

"I still have my plan."

He whispered confidently while maintained his calm expression over his face. His plan was actually none but an empty plan. Not like he got time to think of that because he found himself forced to return, he never predicted that a tough warrior would cross his path right from the beginning and knock him out to death.

"..."

They eventually arrived across from a large stony road which was dividing the forest in half and leading directly to the Konoha's front Gate. Kyuseishu stopped running near a tree over the road and lifted up his hand as a signal for Katsumi to halt while he started to scan the road cautiously with his eyes narrowed. Katsumi landed beside of him and ducked her head down a bit while placing her left hand on his shoulder gently.

"Is the way passable?"

She muttered. Kyuseishu continued to eye the road carefully before sending his glance towards the Gate which was located about 100 meters away from them.

"... I think the way is secure at the moment. Put on your coat and let's go!"

...

Few minutes later...

A long hallway was separating right and left two lines of chambers. The several glowing lamps were stuck on the ceiling of the hall lighting the floor with it's dimmed rays of light.

As the sun rays started to slowly infiltrate into the hall through the tiny slits on the stony walls, Two human silhouettes could be seen marching slowly onto the hall. they were wearing similar black coats which were covering their upper halves and slightly their bottom halves in addition of two hoods over their heads covered their appearances.

Their shoulders were attached while they continued to walk forward cautiously side by side. The person on the left appeared to be a male, he was a bit taller than the other one to the right side who was certainly a female.

"..."

The male lifted his index finger vertically over his lips and hissed softly while staring down over the floor...

"We barely made it inside though. This'll be our lucky day if we find `her` without any troublesome..."

He whispered quietly with a barely audible voice as he kept walking across from the left wall with careful steps... The female snuggled with her shoulder closer from the male's as she walked as quiet as she could, trying to moderate any breathe coming out from her lips so it won't make any noise. The were infiltrating the most restricted area in Konoha after all which was the hospital.

"Aye... Your sneaking ability helped a lot to make us pass through the hospital barriers without any troubles... I just hope she'd agree to heal us up when we find her."

She muttered lowly. The male tilted his head slightly while glancing down at the floor as both of them approached a large door on the left wall.

"Your very sensitive senses also helped... Well, we have to remain quite now... this door is the one before the last one in this corridor so we gotta hurry and check the chamber... Shit! I forgot which room is her personal office..."

The female nodded slowly while clutching into his clothes with her tiny fingers gently like if she has been watching a ghost approaching. She gazed towards the door suspiciously as they kept marching forth closer and closer from it.

"I ain't a sensor-type Kunoichi though but I can't feel somebody's presence in that room... My anticipation can be wrong sometimes so let's check it out."

A feminine foot wearing a black shinobi boot landed suddenly on the floor of the hall few meters behind the sneaking duo. They both flinched at the same time as they halted in their spot, hearing the echoed footstep behind them.

"!"

The male rolled his eyes to one corner nervously without turning around to glance at the mysterious woman that sneaked up behind them.

'We are busted...'

He murmured and gulped lightly with irritation, trying to figure out the identity of the woman who appeared to be wearing a pair of toeless, black shinobi boots revealing her neatly painted toes, in addition of a knee-length pale red skirt. She eventually started to whisper with calm, elide voice before he could observe her facial features.

"Isn't it already too early for visiting time, eh?"

The surprised female who froze from the shock beside the male squinted her eyebrows nervously as she rolled her eyes to the right corner, attempting to grant herself a partial view of the woman. She felt that her anxiety reached it's climax, making her legs grow numb and start to tremble under her without even being able to spill a word.

"..."

The woman smirked faintly while curling her pale pinkish lips in sarcastic manner before she continued to whisper with the same tone of voice.

"I am impressed that you both managed to infiltrate the second floor of the hospital without attracting anyone's attention... But unfortunately, it's too bad for you now that I were the one to capture you red-handed."

She said, letting out a small sigh through her fluffy lips. The male narrowed his dark eyes, trying to remain unfazed as he looked back ahead of him, revealing that he was Kyuseishu himself.

'Her voice... sounds familiar... But... since she had noticed us, I can't let her go...'

He whispered to himself and suddenly turned around before quickly dashing in the opposite direction as he shoved the elbow of his right arm towards the woman's face aggressively.

"We won't figure out until we try!"

Katsumi winced as her eyes twitched surprisingly, watching the male charge at the woman through the corner of her vision.

"!?"

A loud sound of two skins slam echoed through the entire hall of the hospital. Kyuseishu widened his eyes as the hood of his coat fell back, revealing his face entirely. His elbow was slammed onto the woman's opened palms that she used skilfully to stop his unexpected assault. he glared at her shockingly not because of her way to block his elbow but because he realised who she actually was as his eyes fell on her face. He felt that his tongue was heavier than to utter with something due to the shock.

"...!"

The woman wrinkled her nose and blinked slowly, arching her pink eyebrows while glaring up at him with her deep greenish eyes. She wasn't certainly less stunned than he was. Her pink coloured hair was tied on a small pony tail behind her head and some of her other silk hair strands were scattered over her forehead in a messy way. She was a fair skinned woman with average height and flawless body shape.

"... You!"

She exclaimed and shoved his elbow back with her hands. Katsumi gained enough courage and turned around slightly only to stare at Kyuseishu and the woman with confused look.

"And he calls me reckless..."

Kyuseishu pulled away his arm slowly as he narrowed his eyes against the woman while eying her closely. A sweat drop rolled down across the side of his head as he exhaled out his breathe lightly, trying to control and calm down his temper. He was surprised to encounter her face on like this even if he was the one who seeked for her.

"S-Sakura san?!"

He whispered faintly. The pink haired woman shrugged and held her hands down, resting them on her slim waist as she continued to observe him closely with her slight widened eyes. A dumbfounded look was adorning her pretty face.

"You, What are you doing here!?"

She yelped while scanning his body with her eyes firmly but he took a step back and held his shivering hands down across his hips as he hummed with fuzzy voice to himself, never shifting his stare away from her. He couldn't think of a way to prevent himself from going numb in front of her because he realised it will be the most difficult task for him to introduce his issue to her now.

"I ... Actually..."

He mumbled, trying to sort out his thoughts. Katsumi sighed lightly, noticing his odd behaviour in front of the pinkette. She was shocked until he revealed the woman's identity in front of her but now she was tensed up after knowing it. She clutched the collar of her coat, slipping it off herself slowly as she glanced towards the woman trying to keep her facial features seem relaxed.

'So this is Sakura chan...'

She whispered to her inner self while observing closely the pinkette's features and body, seeking for any exclusive physical or psychological aspect that might prompted someone as tough as Kyuseishu to back off in front of her. But ultimately, she couldn't notice any special attribute on her. Maybe because there's was nothing noticeable on her superficial features except her relatively large forehead.

Kyuseishu rubbed his arm sheepishly as a grin started to creep up into his pale lips. For the first time he felt unconfident in what he was about to say.

"Um... I apologise for the way we used to get into here... hehe. However... we came here seeking for you... To help us..."

He said and cleared his throat but he suddenly tensed up, feeling that his body started to get numb even worse than before. His head began to spin around and the pinkette's image started to get misty on his behind his eyes. Sakura gazed at him with featureless expression and shrugged her shoulders carelessly. She eyed him for another couple of seconds before her lips moved.

"... I don't try to be cruel but..."

Katsumi pushed the hood of her coat back and glanced at Kyuseishu for a moment as her brows twitched up, noticing his worsened condition. She believed that the span of his stamina has to be already over even if he tries to push himself to endure more. Shifting her head to look back at Sakura with firm gaze on her eyes, she finally decided to step forth and forget about her worrisome.

"Excuse me... We crossed a long way to arrive here only to meet you... I hope you agree to cooperate with us and help healing us up! Especially Kyuseishu... Because as you can observe, his condition is more critical than mine..."

She said bluntly and blinked while staring at the pinkette's lips, waiting for them to pronounce an answer. Her heart was beating fastly against her chest, pumping more heated blood into her veins and making her cheeks flush.

...


	6. Chapter 6: Between Sakura and Katsumi

Sakura's emerald eyes lowered to look down at the floor for an extended period with unreadable expression. She wasn't convinced in her inner self to offer any help for them after they infiltrated the hospital with such vulgar manner. But she couldn't answer herself why she haven't knocked them to the floor yet and captured them. She found herself drowning into her thoughts but she finally decided to listen to their story until the end before taking a final decision. She took an inhale to refrain herself from deepening more into unnecessary sentiments and slowly started to lift her gaze off the floor to look at the black haired female in front of her but she suddenly blinked with a startle and opened her eyes widely as she glanced back at Kyuseishu surprisingly.

"!"

Katsumi tensed up simultaneously. Her furrowed eyebrows twitched as she shifted her gaze towards Kyuseishu almost letting a tiny gasp slip out from her lips.

"!?"

Kyuseishu fainted suddenly and collapsed backwards. A feminine foot wearing a black high heel landed onto the floor simultaneously. Katsumi's sensitive ears picked up the sound of the footstep but she quickly dashed towards Kyuseishu and held his both shoulders with her hands preventing his unconscious body from falling onto the floor at the last second. Her hazel eyes suddenly twitched as she heard the mysterious footsteps approaching from them.

"!"

It was out of question for her to shift her attention away from Kyuseishu at this moment because she wasn't quite reassured with Sakura's real intentions. The pinkette eventually narrowed her eyes watching Katsumi trying to use her own body to shield Kyuseishu from a possible assault comes from Sakura but Sakura didn't have time to waste until the upcoming person shows up and puts her in more trouble than she was actually in. She suddenly lifted her right leg high behind her as she leaned her upper half forward slightly before swinging her right foot forth, kicking Katsumi on her rear with the heel of her boot hard enough to send her flying along with Kyuseishu like two footballs towards the door of the nearby chamber.

Katsumi felt herself flying outwards with irresistible force that she hadn't even got time to feel the hurt of the hit on her butt but she wrapped her arms tightly around Kyuseishu, not letting go of him even when they eventually bumped into the door of the nearby room harshly, crashing it wildly in their way before finally landing onto the floor of the room face-first with a violent thud. Sakura simply sighed and calmy lifted up her head to watch a young female Nurse approaching her way. The nurse was wearing a traditional nurse uniform consisted of white knee-length apron, black leggings and a pair of black high heels on her feet. She walked slowly towards Sakura with a fainted smile adorning her round face before bowing her head a little as she stood away from her with fifteen feets. She was seemingly taller than the pinkette with mere inches when she lifted her head back up after bowing. Her dark brown eyes were widened slightly as she gazed forward at Sakura. She was holding a small notebook with her both hands.

"..."

The nurse stared at Sakura accusingly for seconds before continuing to walk forward with light steps closer from her while approaching the crashed door to her right side without actually looking inside the room.

"Excuse me... What just happened here?"

She murmured after clearing her throat softly. Sakura masked her irritated features with a soft smile as she walked up slowly towards the nurse while rubbing her arm sluggishly.

"Nothing... It's just a nasty flea landed on my toe, I flinched and my body acted on it's own so I kicked the door by mistake, err- so forget what you just heard. "

She explained and instantly felt the sting of the lie but she just realised that she is not bad on making fake smiles. The Nurse held down her notebook across her slim waist as she rolled her eyes to stare at the crashed door with awful look before looking back at Sakura, trying to mask her stunned facial expression with a fake smile of her own.

"I... I see... Is your foot alright anyways?"

She asked hesitantly and looked down towards Sakura's feet trying to observe any injury or bruise on them but Sakura giggled lowly with silly manner as she kept rubbing her forearm with her painted nails.

"Yeah, yeah of course. It's not a big deal, Worry not..."

* * *

Inside the room...

Katsumi planted the palms of her shivering hands down on the floor, trying to lift her upper half up. Her nose was squished against the floor. She whimpered faintly with desperated irritation.

"What the hell... Was she trying to kill us for real?! I can't even get myself up... Ughh... She kicked me right on the butt..."

A big sweat drop appeared on the back of the Nurse's head as she giggled lightly while covering her lips with her fluffy fingers trying her best not to chuckle.

"Uh-huh... Can I walk on in the room?"

Sakura rested her palm on the Nurse's shoulder as she recovered her serious expression. She stared at her firmly for a while before offering with slight eagerness.

"Listen carefully... I can't let you step in... I've decided to give everyone in the hospital a break today. Go tell the rest of the medical staff and the other nurses that there's no work for today!"

The Nurse's eyelashes twitched up as she blinked then she shook her head confusedly while observing Sakura's facial features.

"What!? W-why all in a sudden...?"

Sakura kept staring at the woman with fixed look, lightly scowling her pink eybrows. She felt it was unnecessary to list any of her motives behind the sudden decision she took because she actually didn't know herself any of her motives.

"Don't ask too much questions..."

She said and wove her hand carelessly before adding.

"Consider it as an order from me personally. Now go!"

The Nurse nodded her head and bowed again. She was curious to know what really happened and drove Sakura to take such a declaration out of blue but like she had any other choice but to obey?

"Alright!"

She whispered and turned around before walking off towards the hall's exit door. Sakura released a soft sigh through her lips as she eyed the Nurse walk away before she soon disappeared from her eyesight.

"..."

Back to the room... Katsumi gasped faintly as she knelt up on her knees while steadying her hands onto the floor in order to lift her upper half up a bit.

"Arrgh... Damn it! This was the most powerful kick I have ever received ugh..."

Her body was still shuddering lightly from the shock and all of her attempts to stand up failed. She even forgot what happened to Kyuseishu after the rocket-like kick she received while holding him. When She shifted her left foot a bit, she suddenly felt it caressing a lumped body behind her. she winced and looked back realising that it was Kyuseishu.

"... Kyuseishu!"

His body was lying on the floor onto his back right behind Katsumi. she instantly noticed that her right leg was thrusted onto his chest so she quickly pulled it away before turning to stare at his face... His pale eyes were closed and his coat was ripped away from him revealing the huge bandages wrapped around his body and his breathing pace was hardly noticeable. Cold sweat was covering his leaden face entirely.

Katsumi widened her eyes slightly and tried to spin herself around towards him to observe him better but she suddenly lifted her head and turned it in the direction of the door, fixing her eyes on the doorstep surprisingly. Sakura walked in with light steps and Katsumi's hazel eyes twitched simultaneously as she held her breathe for a moment and glared up at the pink haired woman.

"...!"

Sakura stared down calmy towards the grounded duo and folded her arms around her chest as she stepped closer from them slowly.

"... Now, we are alone."

She whispered and unzipped her white apron with hurrying motion before tossing it aside then walked closer from Katsumi with steady steps. Katsumi gulped nervously and glared at her anxiously as a sweat drop rolled down onto the back of her bare neck. She believed that she's going to get devoured now by that pink monstrous girl but she was in no condition to fight back.

"..."

Sakura stopped away from Katsumi with three feets and darted her emerald eyes down, eying the female sternly as she lifted up her right hand in front of her chest before murmuring slowly with toneless voice.

"Calm down... And remove your top."

She whispered. Katsumi narrowed her eyes confusedly but her anxiety started to fade away as she observed Sakura's facial expression more and reached to a conclusion that Sakura wasn't offensive like she had presumed.

"Wh-what do you mean!?"

She questioned, still not managing to refrain herself from shuddering. Sakura sighed softly as a ghost of a smile floated around her lips. Her right palm started to glow suddenly with green mysterious aura.

"Just do as I tell you... It's okay, relax. I won't hurt you."

Katsumi nodded as she moved her hand slowly with robotic motion and gripped the side of her ruptured shirt, slipping it off herself slowly. She wasn't wearing any bra and her breasts were small like two balls of frisbee. She kept her eyes attached to Sakura, cautiously watching the green aura flowing around her right hand.

'A healing Chakra...'

She muttered to herself. Sakura gave a reassuring smile and crouched down over the female before leaning closer from her as she held her glowing palm out towards Katsumi's chest slowly.

"Emmm, your wounds aren't that deep."

Sakura said and pressed her glowing palm gently onto the smooth skin of Katsumi's chest and soon all the bruises and scars started to close up almost immediately with a extreme speed and effectiveness Katsumi found them unbelievable.

"... But they are dilated and it's risky to keep them without healing."

Katsumi sighed lightly as she finally decided that she can relax. She eventually felt a strange shudder rolling within her whole body as she kept staring at her own wounds being healed thanks to Sakura's chakra. Her breathes started to return to their normal pace some by some.

"... Thank you..."

She whispered lowly and watched the blood on her sides and both arms vanish under Sakura's glowing hand with a extremely high speed.

'...Using only one hand... She simply seems to be very expert in her job as a medical Kunoichi... I wish we had talented Medical-Nins in Sunagakure as well... Well, She is not just expert as a Medical-Nin it seems, but in hand-to-hand combat as well... No wonder this is Sakura herself... She was the pupil of a Legendary Sannin after all...'

Katsumi took quick mental notes to herself. She kinda enjoyed the light tingling on her skin during the healing process thanks to Sakura's Chakra. The pinkette patted Katsumi's shoulder with her free hand as she slowly removed her glowing hand with the healing Chakra away from Katsumi's skin. She eventually smiled as her emerald eyes fixed on Katsumi's face.

"... So, Now tell me what happened with you both?"

Katsumi rolled her eyes to the side awkwardly, she hadn't expect to hear this question from her and so she wasn't prepared to answer.

"..."

She exhaled softly and eyed her own body only to realise that all of her injuries had disappeared like they were never there before but she felt that she was pathetic. She felt guiltiness towards Kyuseishu because she allowed herself to get healed up before him even when his current condition was more critical than hers. She glanced back towards him nervously across her shoulder, feeling that Sakura's fierce gaze was penetrating her at the same time. She was still in no condition to move even after she got all her wounds healed so trying to ignore Sakura's question wouldn't be a good choice.

"Actually... It's a Long story..."

She stuttered and looked downwards over her knees. She wasn't even feeling any embarrassment by sitting with her upper half naked in front of the other woman.

"But...how about him? Can you heal him? Please..."

Sakura stood up and rested her hands on her hips after dispelling the healing Chakra from her hand. Her facial features returned back to their seriousness as the temporary smile on her lips faded away and she ogled Katsumi with stern look.

"I am not going to heal him up unless you tell me what brought both of you into this condition!"

She said with expressionless voice. Katsumi's eyes widened with frustration. She tilted her head to look to the side as she gripped with her fingers nervously onto he remained piece of her skirt. Her tongue was betraying her to utter any word.

"..."

Sakura continued to stare down at her with rigorous eyes brimmed with sharpness. It was easy for her to read what's going on inside the younger female's head.

"If you don't tell me, I won't be able to offer my help anymore because I don't know what are you both up to exactly, however... It's been seven days since Kyuseishu abandoned the village and I believe he didn't return now with his free will... you know the meaning of that, Sand Kunoichi..."

Katsumi widened her eyes more with every word Sakura uttered. She lifted her head up and glared at the pink haired woman furiously. Her small cheeks were still flushing bright red from the mental pressure she was feeling.

"So everyone in the village already knows about Kyuseishu..."

She said with a heavy sigh.

"If you already know that then why did you agree to help us from the beginning?"

Sakura grimaced and crossed her arms under her chest as she kept eying closely the female who just forced her to face her inner motives.

"Not really...not everyone in Konoha knows about Kyuseishu yet. It's just I am an important individual in Konoha so I practically know about anything that happens within the village or around it even the small incidents like these..."

She said as a shade of a smirk appeared on her lips but she looked away through the glass of the closed window before adding with mysterious tone.

"But honestly... I loathe the current Hokage so I will keep what I saw today a secret... Kyuseishu has a brilliant future as a shinobi so it'd be a loss for the whole village if he gets captured in the Hokage's hands now... He will arrest him and throw him in jail after torturing him because that's the fate for anyone who decides to oppose the Hokage's will.."

Katsumi blinked a couple of times while raising her eyebrows a bit with concern as she stared up at Sakura closely.

"... Is that so... If you know that much then why don't you do something?"

She asked but she immediately regretted it. Sakura looked back at her and stared at her blankly for a moment before replying with a faint smile.

"Help me lay him down on the couch."

She whispered and crouched down over Kyuseishu's feet, glancing at his pale face closely.

"Hurry!

Hurry up! time is not in our favour..."

Katsumi nodded her head rapidly and stood up. She glanced at Sakura then back at Kyuseishu before leaning her upper half down a bit and grabbed his shoulders gently with her both hands to lift him off the floor.

"..."

Sakura grabbed Kyuseishu's ankles with her both hands and lifted his lower half off the floor carefully at the same time with Katsumi before laying him down onto the couch. Katsumi then stood upright beside the couch and stared at Kyuseishu's pale face deeply without lifting her hands off him.

"Is he going to be alright...?"

Sakura stepped forth near Kyuseishu's head and glanced at Katsumi through the corner of her eye as she scowled her pink eyebrows.

"Stay back because you don't need to see what I am about to do!"

She ordered and shifted her head back towards Kyuseishu then she leaned closer from him with her upper half before placing her both palms on his chest gently.

'His heart beating is weak..'

She murmured calmly to herself then she suddenly gripped the thick bandages wrapped around his body and ripped them off with one hand almost harshly.

"!"

Katsumi's eyes and Sakura's eyes widened simultaneously as some big blood trickles flung out from Kyuseishu's deep wounds and stained Sakura's pale face slightly. With her widened eyes, the pinkette observed shockingly the enormous wounds on his stomach, chest and arms.

"How could he survive such a fatal damage with his skinny body!? He doesn't even have fats do protect him."

She exclaimed and tossed the reeked bandages aside as she kept analysing Kyuseishu's body with her eyes in disbelief.

"He should be dead by now!"

Katsumi stepped back slowly while looking forward at Sakura with eyes filled with anxiety. she parted her shivering lips and proceeded to ask hesitantly.

"Can you heal him...? You're... You're the only hope left..."

The pinkette narrowed her greenish eyes while staring at the several injuries that filled Kyuseishu's body. She realised that some of his ribs were shattered inside his chest.

"... In all honesty ... I can't promise that he will get back to his normal health condition even after receiving my personal healing... His Liver and... One of his Kidneys are extremely harmed. Plus, his spinal cord is also damaged... I can't lie to you, healing him up completely is nearly impossible even for me..."

She said with a voice slightly above a whisper then she suddenly clapped her both hands together in front of her chest and almost immediately, her both opened palms started to glow with the same green aura, forming like a large sphere of channeled healing Chakra coated her hands completely in no time.

"Besides... I can sense a large amounts of sand inside his internal organs. I believe the sand had infiltrated his body through these wounds... Even there is some sand inside his Lungs which caused local bronchitis as well..."

Katsumi swallowed lightly her saliva as she eyed Sakura firmly while furrowing her eyebrows. She felt a shiver rolling down her spine as she listened to the facts that Sakura listed but she blinked, trying to convince herself with Sakura's reliability on resolving such a critical dilemma.

"... But there is still a hope, isn't it Sakura chan? I'm sure you can do it..."

Sakura sighed softly and took a deep breathe while closing her eyes slowly. Her both hands till the wrists were now completely surrounded with the green bluish aura. she approached them from Kyuseishu's bare abdomen slowly.

"I'll have to extract the sand out from his body first because the sand works as a poison filled with offensive Chakra to prevent the wounds from closing up from the inside... The person who used this Jutsu is quite smart and skilled in the techniques he uses but too bad for them 'cause they challenged the wrong person... Healing critical conditions like this is my job although this won't be an easy task, but fortunately I am at the highest level of my Chakra currently."

She said confidently which made Katsumi bite her lower lip nervously as the colours begun to fade away from her face slowly. Her cheeks twitched up lightly and she started to feel dizziness in the region of her stomach.

'How is she planning to extract the sand out from his body!? That sounds impossible even for her...'

She muttered to her inner self as she kept glancing towards Kyuseishu across Sakura's shoulder with a slight widened eyes. She felt that the words were betraying her again when she decided to express her thoughts. Sakura placed her glowing palms upon Kyuseishu's bare stomach, cleaning up the blood trickles on his skin thanks to her green, flaring aura that surrounded her both hands completely till the wrists... She preferred to work silently and forget about everything that might distract her concentration.

"..."

Katsumi picked up her ruptured shirt from the floor with one hand and folded it slowly around her chest, using it as a bra to cover her small breasts. She squinted and poked her head forward a bit trying to watch closer the healing procedure.

"..."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows firmly as her aura kept wiping clean the blood and sand from Kyuseishu's wounds. Her face started to sweat as the Chakra sphere began to expand to an extreme size, covering Kyuseishu's upper half entirely.

"..."

Katsumi tilted her head slightly as she startled and widened her eyes, watching the green aura of Sakura absolutely surpass the ordinary range of any healing jutsu based of Chakra.

'What the hell is she doing! Something doesn't feel right...'

She muttered surprisingly and leaned her head forward more, noticing that the flowing Chakra had already coated Kyuseishu's body entirely.

"...!? That's... Incredible!

* * *

Outside the hospital, The wind breeze was blowing softly onto the pale leaves of the trees planted over the Hospital's backyard. The sky was clear, like an endless blue ocean...

.

.


	7. Chapter 7: We'll never forget this favor

Back to the seven legendary monuments carved within the stone of the Hokage great rock that overlooks the entire village with the seven faces of the previous Hokage's carved upon it. The steady features of their faces didn't seem to get slightly affected by the enormous changes and incidents that occured on the village along the time since they passed away. Some of those seven Fire Shadows were even considerd as gods by the villagers...

The most recent face was added to the monuments over than fifteen years ago but for some mysterious reason, the Eighth and Ninth Hokages faces weren't added to the although the Ninth Hokage ''Kyuudaime" had been assigned officially as Hokage and started doing his responsibilities over than ten years ago.

Inside the Hokage's residence where the Hokage spends almost his whole time drowning in paperworks, A pale skinned man, wearing the Hokage's distinctive cloak, sat behind his office table and rested his elbows calmly upon that ancient desk which was never substituted across the time. The man was staring with etched look forward from behind his dark circular glasses. Some of his brown, spiky hair was revealed from the red Hokage hat that he wore over his head. His thin eyebrows were lightly scowled like if he was trying to concentrate on certain idea regarding someone or something. However, with these superficial features, he was easily identifiable to any person from the village or around it, especially through his signature dark glasses but not sure if his identity was already revealed to our readers...

Two males wearing the standard ANBU masks on their faces and the ANBU's formal attires, were kneeling each upon one knee next to each others in front of the Hokage's ancient desk that even some type of worms considerd as a suitable house to settle within it's slits. The ANBU member's heads were slightly shifted in the Hokage's direction as they stood still with respectful manner

"..."

The ANBU member who knelt to the right of his comrade shook his head lightly as he began to utter with low but clear voice.

"... Hokage sama, unfortunately, the ANBU squad that you ordered to stop the Chunnin named Kyuseishu from leaving the village... had failed..."

The other ANBU male added almost immediately with some hesitation.

"... He defeated the leader of the squad and... three other members were found slaughtered upon the west gate of the village... The rest of the squad members were unable to track him down or determine the direction he fled in..."

He paused for some air and tilted his head down slightly while looking away a bit before resuming.

"The leader of the squad didn't provide us information about the Jutsus the boy used because he was carried to the hospital right away and he is still unconscious until this moment... I personally think that a Shinobi who can beat down half of an ANBU squad members all alone has to be at a higher level than a ordinary chunnin and needs to be considerd as a serious threat to the village."

The ANBU member finished speaking and the Hokage eventually entwined his fingers together, supporting his shaved chin with them while he arched his back slightly forward, displaying a concerned expression.

"... I see... Kyuseishu was his name... Now I remember he successfully passed the chunnin exams two years ago along with his both teammates... He could be a real threat if we leave his case unchecked though."

The Hokage murmured calmly. The ANBU member who spoke first nodded his head slightly while the other ANBU member started to speak after few seconds.

"That kid must have developed a sort of advanced Jutsu before he was put under your surveillance... You, yourself Hokage sama, were accusing him for his attemps to rediscover some of the secret Ninja Arts which have been sealed right after the ultimate Shinobi war..."

The Hokage sighed briefly. It wasn't like this is the first time that a reckless shinobi abandons the village but this time, it kept bugging him for some reason which made him put up even his personal concern into this issue. But ironically, His icy facial features were showing no hint of interest while he spoke about the essence of this issue.

"... Regardless on what he is really trying to achieve...He is the pupil of the best Taijutsu master in Konoha, so no wonder that he is a skilled person and the likes of him can represent a serious menace on the whole village. In short, leaving him by his own now will cause more troubles."

The 1st ANBU member planted his hand on his right hip.

"We're waiting for your orders, sir."

He whispered lowly. The Hokage stood up a bit off his chair and suddenly smacked his palms down against the table harshly.

"I DECLARE ARASHI KYUSEISHU A MISSING-NIN AND ORDER TO SEND FOUR ANBU SQUADS IMMEDIATELY TO TRACK HIM DOWN AND CAPTURE HIM ALIVE!"

"Yes, Hokage sama!"

The two ANBU males replied at the same time before disappearing in puffs of smoke.

* * *

|| In the Konoha's hospital

Utter darkness was everywhere... A tiny silver of light began slowly to lit up from within the bottom of darkness, blowing away gradually the darkness from the boy's brain. He finally opened his eyes wide, only to watch Sakura's deep green eyes eying him calmly. Kyuseishu had almost lost all the sensations on his body like if he was never alive, nothing materialized around him could even prove that he was not just dreaming. Maybe only Sakura's cute facial features were able to represent a proof for his existence in this world at this particular moment of time. He'd fainted while staring at her emerald eyes and now he reopened his eyes again on them. Some weird sentiments tickled him from time to time on the very few occasions when he got a chance to stare at Sakura's face for brief moments in the past.

"Uuu..."

He mumbled faintly as his dark eyelashes winced at the sudden impact of the pale light on them. The light was coming from the electric lantern stuck on the room's ceiling just above his head. He rolled his eyes back slowly in the direction of Sakura as he hardly started to recognise the place and partially remember what happened before he fainted. But he parted his swollen lips and stuttered robotically with weak voice.

"W-where am I!?"

Sakura's eyes gleamed with a smile but Katsumi, who didn't move an inch from her previous stance, tensed up suddenly as Kyuseishu stuttered. She was waiting silently as Sakura had ordered her until she gets done with the healing operation.

"..!"

Katsumi rose her eyebrows surprisingly and shifted her gaze in Sakura's direction with perturbed concern.

"Is he awake!?"

"No."

Sakura replied as she shook her head and blinked twice repetitively without moving her eyes away from Kyuseishu.

"...He still needs to rest."

She added and sighed lightly as she rested her hands on her hips. Her hands were entirely stained with blood and some tiny blood drops were slowly trickling off of her fingertips down to the floor.

Kyuseishu's eyebrows were now arched slightly as he continued to stare up at Sakura with lifeless gaze. Even though he haven't regained his full consciousness yet but He slowly started to feel the presence of his limbs and his other body parts.

"...Uhh"

He mumbled lowly but he somehow started to feel relaxed by watching Sakura smiling to him with her eyes. It made him remember everything in details. Katsumi arched her eyebrows suspiciously. She was confident that Kyuseishu had regained his consciousness but she couldn't feel comfortable with what Sakura was currently planning to do.

"..."

Without hesitation, she stepped forward closer from the couch where Kyuseishu was laying and stood next to his feet before staring at him closely with unsure expression adorned her face.

"...Kyuseishu."

She whispered then slowly reached out her left hand and gently patted his leg over the white, cotton blanket that was covering his entire body.

"... I'm glad that you're awake... How do you feel?"

She murmured but she winced as Kyuseishu snapped up suddenly and sat on his rear while looking around with sharpened eyes.

"I am all fine!"

He shouted and snickered like an Ox, feeling a nasty explosive energy overwhelming within his body. Katsumi blinked rapidly as she rose her eyebrows surprisingly without removing her hand off his leg.

"Huh!?"

She was believing that he won't be able to move for a while at least after this horrible operation casted on him but now she was left stunned again for his ability to recover quickly. Sakura allowed a heavy sigh to exit through her lips and crossed her arms under her chest as she glanced rigorously at Kyuseishu.

".. You are not fine. Stay where you are!"

She exclaimed. Kyuseishu pulled his right leg back under the him and shifted a little to his side as he looked up at Sakura with dumbfounded look.

"Why not? I think I am able to stand again and walk... Thank you anyways... I know simple words won't be able to return the favour but... I honestly wasn't expecting that you'd cooperate with us... Can I know what changed your mind?"

"Kyuseishu..."

Katsumi muttered as she glanced sternly at him before moving her gaze back in Sakura's direction with worrisome filling her facial expression.

Sakura rolled her eyes to their corner slowly and unfolded her arms as another light sigh escaped her smooth lips.

"... I am done healing you... You better don't make me regret what I've done."

She murmured with slight irritation and slowly reached for a towel to wipe her hands with. Kyuseishu furrowed his eyebrows as he kept eying her candidly. He knew it won't be easy to leak answers out from her but he decided to try anyway.

"Why you bore the risk of helping us while you're already aware that we have infiltrated the hospital with such vulgarity... You may not even be able to keep yourself away from the troubles too if something in your plan of secretly helping us went wrong and you get suspected... You know the punishment of cooperation with a Rogue Ninja..."

Sakura tilted her head slightly as he said then she shrugged while looking downwards at her feet before glaring at him with a mischievous smirk curled the corner of her lips. She felt that her inner self was about to take over her actions and assault this boy with a barrage of punches until he faints again.

"You sure have a brain to think. But... If you wasn't reassured that I'd agree to offer my help, then why did you seek me personally?"

She realised that she can't afford losing to a kid like him in this psychological fight or her pride will be defiled. Kyuseishu looked down over his knees as he scratched the back of his head with his fingers sheepishly. He decided to stop trying to provoke her because he truly didn't want to see her other horrible side emerging. No, not now and not here.

"... I wasn't confident at all that you'll agree to offer your help. l just ..."

He whispered and tilted his head down a bit, letting his chin drop on his chest.

"... I just couldn't think of someone else that would agree heal us except you... So I quickly took a decision ignoring any terrible consequences that my decision might cause..."

Katsumi remained silent until she felt that his citation only made her sound like if she was just a mere minion to him. She glared at him and grunted, lifting her hand off him.

"... You're such a jerk. You could get us captured by that reckless decision."

She complained with a rigorous voice only to let Sakura know that she wasn't just a minion to Kyuseishu now that she was also able to criticise him, even if it was pointless at this point.

Sakura let exit another heavy sigh and shifted her head to the side as she took one step away from the bed.

"... Long time... It's been a long time since I met a rockhead Shinobi like you... Kyuseishu, you have to feel grateful because I loathe the Hokage. otherwise, you would've been sent to the interrogation room already."

She said with softened voice made Katsumi steal a sharp glance at her through the corner of her vision.

'... This woman... You're still a monstrous creature even if you try to be nice...'

She stuttered to herself before looking back at Kyuseishu as her eyelashes twitched up suddenly, watching him jump off the bed like a monkey before landing on his feet behind Sakura, facing both of them with his back.

"I am thankful for your effort Sakura san. But like I said, only words won't fulfill the grateful feelings I have towards you."

He murmured while fixing his firm gaze on the void of the door before him.

"Well, I guess it's time to get going..."

He added as he wove his hand slowly above his head. Katsumi, although still not convinced by his attitude, received the signal and gazed at him with dull expression for a bit of time.

"Yush..."

She murmured and quickly picked up her and Kyuseishu's coats from the floor before putting hers over her shoulders then she turned to walk towards him slowly with confident steps past Sakura's left shoulder.

"..."

The two females exchanged a slight eye contact for a brief moment but Sakura eventually faced away and turned towards Kyuseishu slightly, planting her hands on her waist as she glared at him sternly while lifting up her chin.

"You are not going anywhere out from here! understand?"

She yelled with aggression which made Katsumi flinch and swallow anxiously but Sakura went ahead on her threat.

"...Unless you tell me first what are you planning to achieve by Leaving Konoha!"

Her voice was confident as she fully turned towards Kyuseishu who his eyes widened a fraction as he heard her blunt threat. But he rolled his eyes to the corner as a malicious smirk crept up into his lips.

"You want to know what I am actually trying to achieve? I never had any special goals in this life but there's only one goal which is crystal clear now before my eyes... I am going to kill the Hokage!"

Sakura kept glaring towards him as her narrowed eyes twitched a bit. She tried her best to remain cool although she had never expected that response to come from him. Just from where did he get the courage to say that in front of her anyways? She just hoped that he wasn't serious but Kyuseishu's determined facial expression said exactly the opposite which made her decide to stay speechless better than unleashing her rage on him.

"..."

Katsumi blinked, trying to study the pinkette's facial reactions with her eyes over her shoulder. She gulped lightly at the thought of Sakura pouncing on both of them all in a sudden and tying them up to one of the pillars. Her eyebrows shaped into a frown as she looked back towards Kyuseishu with blaming gaze and stepped towards him slowly.

"..."

Kyuseishu eventually lifted up his head and took a step forward towards the door as he kept staring towards the floor blankly.

"Katsumi... Let's get going."

The female instead of nodding, turned her head in Sakura's direction as she stopped next to Kyuseishu and glanced at the pinkette with honest grateful eyes.

"... We will never forget this favour, Sakura chan... I wish you could let us go now..."

Katsumi whispered and bowed her head slightly in respect before starting to walk off alongside Kyuseishu...

Sakura smirked in scoffing manner, watching them quit the room but a slight smile pulled the corner of her lips as she kept gazing up towards the doorstep calmly.

'... This boy... reminds me with...'

She murmured to herself and closed her eyes slowly as she shook her head like if she was trying to blow away the memories from her head.

* * *

[ 45 minutes later, Somewhere in Konoha's forest...

Katsumi and Kyuseishu were traversing the forest in the direction of 1 o'clock (North-North East)... Kyuseishu landed on a large tree branch and ducked down as he panted lightly from exhaustion. he tapped the branch with his palms and tilted his head to look down with a firm gaze in his eyes without saying a word. Katsumi landed to his left side upon her feet on the branch and shifted her head in his direction. A wondering look adorning her face as she rested one hand on her left knee.

"What's up, why you stopped all in a sudden!?"

She questioned. Kyuseishu without lifting his eyes, gripped the side of his coat taking it off himself before tossing it aside. He was wearing a grizzly flak jacket underneath.

"I just realized it's too risky for both of us to move in pair throughout a large forest like this one... I guess we were lucky because Sakura chan was nice with us but we have stay aware of any ambushes since we are still not that far away from the village."

He murmured as he started to stand up slowly, never looking at the female who shook her head eventually as she narrowed her eyes against him.

"I know right? we just fled out from the village with relative ease thanks to Sakura's help but isn't it odd that nobody appeared in our way yet?"

She said. Kyuseishu turned his head slightly in her direction with fixed look before starting to speak.

"It could be just a trap to lure us out into certain location within the forest after making us feel safe. That's why I said we should keep our guards up and prepared to fight just in case the worst scenario occurs and we found ourselves surrounded by dozens of ANBU members like what happened earlier..."

He paused and picked a brief inhale of fresh air into his lungs before adding.

"Regardless on the possibility that the Hokage declared me as a Missing-Nin yet or not..."

"But where should we head now?"

Katsumi questioned, interrupting him as she stood upright without moving her concerned gaze away from him. She felt her lips shivering lightly as she spoke when she realised that she had interrupted him unintentionally. She only felt that he was speaking as slow as a robot and that annoyed her to some extent but that didn't prevent her from adding, trying to prove her point.

"No matter how much we attempt, we will get trapped in the end if we just keep running without hiding."

Kyuseishu sighed as he slipped his right hand under the fabric of his jacket and pulled out a small folded scroll wrapped with a white rope from it's middle which made Katsumi raise her eyebrows confusedly.

"?"

She blinked slowly as she watched him unfolding the scroll calmly in front of his chest as he crouched down, revealing on the special characters written with Hiragana on the inside of the scroll. He eventually turned in her direction as he unrolled down the whole length of the scroll upon the branch before his feet.

"Katsumi, Listen... it'd be better if I seal your body now temporary in this scroll... then I will summon you back when I arrive to a safe distance."

Katsumi's eyes widened hearing him say so. She observed the scroll unfolded near her feet for a moment before looking back at Kyuseishu's face with worried expression.

"Are you sure you are going to do alright alone?"

He nodded his head lightly as he looked at her face with a confident expression.

"Don't worry... I know the most safe paths that I should traverse through the forest."

He whispered and gently pressed the opened palm of his right hand onto her chest which brought up a weird shiver into her spine and made her cheeks flush slightly. Kyuseishu eventually lifted the index and middle fingers of his free hand simultaneously above the scroll, forming a half handseal to channel the right amount of Chakra in the determined region of his body.

"... I still got some tricks up my sleeve to avoid any possible trackers. But if I had to face any of 'em anyways and got captured, you will stay safe inside the scroll, at least for a while."

He explained. Katsumi nodded in agreement although she wasn't quite convinced with his plan but she closed her eyes slowly as a steam of smoke emerged suddenly from the scroll and started to engulf her entire body, sucking her down into the scroll in mere seconds without leaving any trace of her body behind.

Kyuseishu pressed his left palm firmly onto the scroll, completing the sealing operation as a special Kanji appeared almost immediately over one of the Hiragana characters written on the opened scroll underneath Kyuseishu's palm. The Kanji appeared to indicate Katsumi's distinctive position among the rest of the Hiragana characters written there.

Kyuseishu then folded the scroll back before picking it up and hid it underneath his clothes calmly as he looked forward blankly.

"I'd better hurry and cross the boundaries of the land of Fire as soon as possible..."

He whispered to himself and jumped off the tree branch to the ground, landing in a crouch before proceeding to run onwards while scanning cautiously with his narrowed eyes the bushes and trees that surrounded him.

...

After several miles of running through the bushy forest, the boy eventually slipped out from a set of trees only to find that he had arrived upon an open field within the forest where he could finally watch the crystal clear sky above him. The open field was relatively large and shaved from grass or any other plants. Without stopping, Kyuseishu slowly turned his head right and left to observe the area, knowing that crossing such an open field could make him an easy target for enemies. He wasn't quite sure where to head exactly because Sunagakure was not an option anymore.

"!?"

His eyes suddenly winced as he immediately forced his feet to refrain from dashing forward, allowing a flying Kunai knife to slash the air one inch across the tip of his nose. Without shifting his gaze from the Kunai that ended up stabbing a random tree trunk to his right side, he figured that the weapon was launched towards him from the left side

"There!"

He shouted as he quickly shifted his head to the side towards the assumed location of the foe, attempting to spot him before he could arrange another assault.

"Hmph..."

He hissed while steadying his feet onto the ground firmly because he almost lost his balance when he halted to avoid the Kunai that roughly missed him with one inch. But he quickly pulled out a Kunai from his weapon pouch and tossed it towards the thick bushes of the tree, which he believed that the foe who targeted him was hiding inside, attempting to force him to show up.

"Get out already!"

He shouted as his ears picked up the sound of his Kunai being deflected by the mysterious foe. But before he could reach for another Kunai, a silhouette of a human being leaped out suddenly from the tree before jumping downwards towards him only to make him feel a bit comfortable because his enemy was a single person unlike what he presumed.

The person's figure was soon revealed. He was a young boy with a piercing glare on his eyes and sporting a standard Chunnin attire consisted of green flak jacket, black Shinobi pants and matched sandals. He was as skinned as Kyuseishu looked...

Kyuseishu narrowed his eyes more while gazing up towards the other young male surprisingly but it took him less than five seconds to realise his identity. He kept his hands down and tried to stay unfazed even though he was certain about the male's intention to land another attack on him.

"...!"

The other male instantly drew out six shurikens with one hand from his Shuriken holster attached to his right hip and tossed them swiftly towards Kyuseishu without landing down on the ground.

"Where do you think yourself going, huh!?"

He shouted but Kyuseishu instantly slid backwards with his both feet onto the ground letting the six Shurikens strike the dirt instead of him but his eyes continued to follow the enemy who eventually landed few meters in front of him and snickered before displaying a cocky smirk made Kyuseishu look dumbfounded.

"...Raph!?"

To be continued...

* _Hiragana and Kanji: A Japanese syllablary writing systems..._


	8. Chapter 8:I'm the burning in your throat

Chapter Eight

* * *

Dark clouds started to gather slowly on the sky blocking most of the luminous sun rays from reaching the open field laid within the forest. It wasn't rainy clouds most likely because the wind breeze was quite calm. Kyuseishu never expected to encounter that guy here and it took him almost one minute to fully grasp that reality. when they both stood facing each other, Kyuseishu eyed him closely for a couple of seconds attempting to read his thoughts and what he was probably up to through the expressions that he was displaying over his face.

"... Raph?!"

He stuttered lowly as he stared at him for an extended moment of time. The other young chunnin who landed a few meters in front of Kyuseishu replied with a malicious smirk, not shifting his valiant glare away from him.

"Yes, it's me... Are you surprised to see me here or something?"

"...What are doing doing here!?"

Kyuseishu questioned after some time of self debating.

'Did he follow me all the way up to this place from Konoha without me even being able to notice him? But how...?'

He thought to himself, trying to maintain his calmness because to get interrupted by one of his old comrades wasn't a quite predictable scenario to him.

"!"

His eyelashes twitched suddenly as he remembered the moment when he tossed his coat aside before proceeding to seal Katsumi.

'It can't be...'

"Kyuseishu... If you want to continue running away from the village, you have to get through me first!

Raph said bluntly, stopping Kyuseishu's train of thoughts as he glared at him with confident look. He was roughly shorter than Kyuseishu with some inches but they both had almost the same general body shape though Raph had more furious look which revealed that he was short tempered and his dark brown eyes were naturally filled with malicious seriousness. Two small dark spots were circling his both eyes and his Hidden Leaf forehead protector was wrapped around his forehead with the metal part of it loosened a little bit over the right upper half of his head. His hair was brownish and silky but some of it's locks were covering the entire left upper half of his head including his left eyebrow. He observed Kyuseishu longer before adding with rigorous voice.

"... It's still not too late for you to return and ask forgiveness from the Hokage, you know... But if you follow your rockhead and refuse to return willingly, I will need to use force against you."

Kyuseishu could hear the confidence on Raph's voice which made him feel that Raph was really determined to fulfill his threat no matter what. That means another battle for him which will raise the chances of him getting tracked down by Konoha's ANBU squads even if he manages to get rid of this guy, but not if he does that as quick as possible. His eyebrows were constantly twitching as he continued to stare at the other male cautiously, knowing that he shouldn't take his threat lightly.

"You know I'm not going to go back to Konoha after getting this far from it... Anyhow, did you trail me from the village to this point only to say that nonsense? Plus... Do you seriously think that you are capable of stopping me right here? Heh, attempting to stop me now won't be useful for you so go back to the village and say Hi to the Hokage on my behalf."

Kyuseishu said with blunt sarcasm. Raph sighed softly and narrowed his eyes against him as he murmured.

"You are taking me lightly as ever, don't you? I will stop you and I am capable of doing it because if I wasn't confident on myself, I wouldn't dare to try... You moron."

He suddenly stomped his foot onto the ground and dashed towards Kyuseishu with full speed before swiftly launching his right leg in the air towards the side of Kyuseishu's head who winced at the sudden outrage but he quickly blocked the kick with his right upper arm. He simultaneously took one step back with his left foot to steady himself upon the ground in order restrain Raph's momentum.

"!"

Raph used his high agility and flipped back suddenly leaving Kyuseishu in a temporary astonishment because he tought that Raph would aim to land another assaults but instead, Raph landed upside-down on his opened palms just mere feets in front of Kyuseishu who instantly rose his guards over his face expecting another attack to come from Raph's side. Once landing upside-down, Raph immediately stretched his both legs flat in Kyuseishu's direction and unleashed a barrage of rapid kicks at his jaw wildly.

"Guu..."

Kyuseishu gasped as he narrowed his eyes while receiving most of the kicks with his both forearms which he folded over his chest defensively although he never predicted such a furious attack right from the beginning. But an ultimate kick made him fly off his feet skyward.

'Damn it... Is he serious?'

Raph smirked, displaying a smug glare in his eyes as he used his hands pressed onto the ground and pushed himself upwards in the same direction that Kyuseishu was sent flying in.

"You jerk! The Hokage already declared you as Missing-nin so I'll have to stop you now by myself from drowning more in the dark path that you chose to walk!"

He shouted nervously. Kyuseishu maintained his arms on a defensive position while receiving another barrage of powerful kicks on his stomach and other regions of his body repeatedly which made him forcibly fly higher into air without even getting a chance to evade the assault or fight back. He growled faintly, feeling that some wounds from his former battle started to open up again under the hard kicks even with his desperate attempts to guard his body against them but he suddenly widened his eyes as an alarm signalled inside his brain made him instantly figure out Raph's true intention behind pushing him as high as possible from the ground.

'Impossible! Is he trying to perform the Primary Lotus Technique...?'

Kyuseishu whispered to himself, knowing that he should start taking the other male's attacks seriously or he'd get surely beaten up. He quickly lifted up his arms above his head, thinking of a possible method to stop the continuous barrage of kicks rather than dodging them because it was impossible for him now to shift his momentum in another direction. The powerful kicks on his stomach and the bottom part of his chest made him cough out blood from his mouth before accepting the most powerful kick on his chin from the heel of Raph's sandal which forced him to faint for a moment as he groaned lowly.

"Argh!"

Soon, They both started to fall back towards the ground due to the gravity force.

"I am not done with you yet!"

Yelling Raph, he cocked an eyebrow as he took advantage of Kyuseishu's temporary faint and suddenly wrapped his both arms around the male's torso firmly from behind before proceeding to spin around in mid air like a missile with both their heads now pointed towards the ground. He simultaneously curled his both legs tightly around Kyuseishu's legs to prevent him from struggling and ensure the effectiveness of his technique.

"Hmph!"

Kyuseishu snickered nervously as he recovere his consciousness only to find that he was spinning forcibly around himself with enormous speed while falling downwards with his head pointed directly towards the ground.

"!"

He tensed up anxiously, feeling like his jaw was about to blast off from the extreme pressure of the air on him due to the rapid spinning motion. He instantly realised that less than five seconds were probably left before he crashes his head against the ground with this current speed so he had to react immediately to prevent that from happening but Raph was grabbing him tightly although his both arms were still free. so without thinking he stretched his right arm in the opposite direction of their falling trajectory and firmly grasped the ankle of Raph's right leg with his hand before quickly shoving backwards the elbow of his free arm, elbowing Raph's forehead behind him violently forcing the latter to loosen the grip on him slightly as he growled from the unexpected hit and widened his eyes nervously but he never stopped spinning around deliriously.

"?!"

Raph winced again as Kyuseishu managed to grab a hold of his other ankle while their spinning motion almost stopped. using an added strength, Kyuseishu yanked Raph's both legs from around his own legs before dragging his whole body down, freeing himself but instead of letting him fall to the ground, he swiftly shoved up his both knees and thrusted them hard against Raph's stomach before quickly grasping Raph's head with his both feet without letting go of his ankles. He then rolled around himself before simultaneously releasing Raph's head and ankles and tossing him skyward with enough power to make him fly dozens of meters on vertical trajectory in the air away from Kyuseishu who continued to fall normally towards the ground.

"Aho!"

Raph flipped around himself in the air like a wheel as he flew upwards forcibly before he finally retrieved his temporary balance in the air with his head pointed down.

"Hngh!"

He whimpered feeling like his ears were torn off but without thinking, he pressed his index and middle fingers of the same hand against each other and lifted them across his lips while glaring down towards Kyuseishu with extreme wrath.

"DO YOU CONSIDER EVERYONE YOU KNOW IN THE VILLAGE YOUR FOE NOW?! I AM THE BURNING IN YOUR THROAT BEFORE YOU SWALLOW THE TERRIBLE REALITY YOU CHOSE!"

He shouted out and inhaled a deep breathe before suddenly expelling from his mouth a large steam of red flames in a shape of a massive ball of fire headed towards Kyuseishu who eventually rose his head up in Raph's direction only to widen his eyes shockingly as he noticed the incoming bursts of flames assaulting him directly from above. He quickly cupped his arms over his face realising that there was no chance for him to evade getting caught with those flames due to the fact that he was still in the air and unable to move sideways to dodge.

"Shit!"

The red flames engulfed Kyuseishu's body completely in a term of seconds, covering him from the sight as soon they hit the ground, the bursting flames started to travel viciously in different directions upon the open field before sticking to some of the nearby trees and bushes to devour them slowly.

Raph eventually landed onto a high branch of a random tree located away from the flames range he rested his right hand on the trunk beside him as he panted lightly, his face was sweating and his left fist was clutched. He started to scan closely with his eyes the open field below him that received the major damage by the flames of his fireball.

"..."

He remained silent for seconds but he soon narrowed his eyes suspiciously as he failed to spot any minor trace of Kyuseishu but he continued to observe the environment around him hoping to find a clue about Kyuseishu's fate after getting engulfed by the flames mid-air.

"What's going on? Where did he fall?! I'm quite sure that my fireball assaulted him directly so his body should have fallen somewhere close... But I can't sense his presence anymore... Is he killed for real?

He murmured to himself as he lifted his hand off the trunk heavily and planted it on his hip before looking downwards at his feet with slight irritation.

"Or did he run away? No, he is not that coward... He actually didn't have time for that plus I would've noticed him right away if he tried to run away..."

He whispered with unsure voice as he tilted his head down slightly... A white hare suddenly leaped into a small bush trying to find a shelter for itself from the greedy flames that continued to eat everything in it's way. Raph winced anxiously as his ears picked up the rustle and looked towards the bush that the sound of the rustle came from assuming that it was Kyuseishu but he soin realised that it was just a small animal from the forest's inhabitants. He sighed briefly as he looked to the side and lowered his eyelids before muttering faintly to himself.

"... Kyuseishu... You wanted this end... I warned you not to take me lightly... It was better for you to die here anyways before you can progress further in your messed up plans..."

``Don't try to overestimate yourself...``

Raph suddenly tensed up as he widened his eyes once he heard the mysterious whisper that came from above. He nervously shifted his head up in the direction of the voice to investigate who was standing behind that whisper although he was sure of the familiar voice.

"!"

It was Kyuseishu himself who smirked sarcastically as he glanced down upon Raph with confident look. He was hanging upside down with his feet from a higher branch attached to same tree that Raph stood within.

"... You know nothing about what's happening in the village, so you better stop trying hard to make me accept to live under the rotten rules of the Hokage with my arms crossed... like you and the rest Ninjas in Konoha..."

Kyuseishu said as he planted his hands on his hips. He wasn't certainly affected by the flames because not even a minor bruise could be seen on his skin and his clothes were still intact. That made Raph regard him with disbelief and anger for a while because he was confident that his flames damaged him directly. He furrowed his thick eyebrows and glared sharply at Kyuseishu not wanting to admit his impression by his skill.

"Now, now you're being jealousy and considering us all blind minions to the Hokage? Just what happened to that mind of yours all of a sudden to declare war against everyone on Konoha?!"

He questioned furiously. Kyuseishu sharpened the gaze on his eyes as he felt that he started to lose his temper slowly against Raph.

"I simply don't wanna stay so I'm running away. Come show me what you got up your sleeve to stop me!"

Kyuseishu yelled out as he kicked himself off the branch and dashed downwards towards Raph before throwing a punch with his right fist towards his head once he reached a suitable distance from him. Raph instantly slid one foot backwards onto the tree branch he was standing upon to steady himself as he blocked the punch with his left palm before it could hit his head. He gritted his teeth furiously and glared up at Kyuseishu as he grasped his fist with his palm clutched.

"I WON'T LET YOU GET THROUGH ME!"

Kyuseishu, without shifting from his upside-down position, spun around himself swiftly with his fist pressed onto Raph's palm and instantly threw his other clenched fist towards Raph's face before he finally landed down with his left foot upon the same branch just two inches in front of Raph's feet.

"Heh!"

But unexpectedly, Raph leaned his head to the right side dodging the punch which passed beside his left ear with one inch. He simultaneously released Kyuseishu's right fist and quickly thrusted his own right fist forward towards the male's stomach once the other landed in front of him.

"Huraaa!"

Kyuseishu's eyes lit up suddenly with a fiery glare as he flicked back the elbow of his left arm, which Raph managed to dodge a second ago, and elbowed the back of his neck harshly forcing his head to bend forward as he quickly stopped the punch aimed for his stomach with his free opened palm. Raph's eyes gleamed with rage as he suddenly lifted his head back up and shoved it towards Kyuseishu's forehead giving him a hard headbutt which made Kyuseishu lose his balance temporarily but he quickly pulled his left arm away from Raph's head and quickly curled his hand into a fist as he snickered loudly, trying to recover his balance on the branch. He threw his curled fist blindly to the left side aiming to distract Raph whilst he quickly establishes another fighting strategy.

Raph widened his eyes a fraction at the surprising punch because he thought that his headbutt was enough to send Kyuseishu flying off the branch but he quickly ducked his head down evading the punch. He simultaneously arched his legs slightly to maintain his own balance and proceed to deliver another blow realising that the one who delivers faster blows is going to win this bout.

"Ooh..."

Kyuseishu pulled back his arm and folded it across his chest once his punch missed Raph's face again but he grinned as he finally discovered an opening on Raph's defences. He spun around himself on one foot before the other makes another reflex and swiftly stretched his free leg flat beyond Raph's head, this allowed him to simultaneously deliver a powerful kick with the back of his feet to the back of Raph's head, sending him violently towards the ground.

"Argh...!"

Raph growled as he tripped forward before falling off the the branch towards the ground but he quickly flipped in the air before he could hit the ground and adjusted his falling trajectory to land safely with a thud. He leaned his upper half a bit forward and crouched down once his feet landed on the soil to restrain the shock produced by the impact.

"Damn it..."

He grumbled as he rose his head up in Kyuseishu's direction and glared at him darkly while touching with his fingertips slightly the large weapon pouch attached to the back of his waist.

"Come here, bastard!"

"Heh, don't get your hopes up in defeating me with your current level."

Kyuseishu muttered and quickly jumped off the tree while picking out a Kunai knife from his weapon pouch before fluently tossing it towards Raph. When he landed on the ground, Raph had already deflected away the Kunai with a Kunai of his own then in a slit of second, they dashed furiously towards each other exchanging an ablaze eye contact. Nobody wanted to hold back.

"What you're doing now is useless!"

Kyuseishu shouted as he continued to run towards Raph watching him dash towards him simultaneously with the same eagerness.

"I am carrying you back with me to Konoha after beating you up half to death, Kyuseishu!"

Raph shouted back as they collided in the center of the open field which got surrounded by the hungry flames from every direction. He held out his both hands, interlocking his fingers with Kyuseishu's fingers firmly as they halted simultaneously crashing their foreheads against each others hard.

"Ugh!" "Argh!"

They groaned surprisingly at the same time because none of them expected that the other would also think to deliver a headbutt but once Raph's fingers interlocked with his, Kyuseishu squashed his forehead more against Raph's as he hissed and clenched his fingers tighter across the male's, attempting to restrain his momentum and push him backwards as a sweat drop rolled down the side of his head while exchanging a fierce eye contact with Raph like if they were trying to read each other's one's thoughts.

"Don't try to show off that you are stronger than what you actually are... Raph you can't beat me!"

Kyuseishu stuttered under his breathe. Raph's eyebrows twitched up slightly but he narrowed his eyes against him and gritted his teeth while arching his legs to steady his feet onto the ground. He felt that the enormous pressure will end up making his fingers shatter if not his forehead. Kyuseishu's smell of sweat reminded him with their old days back in the academy.

"You're being cocky now, huh? Heh, You never changed."

He murmured sarcastically and grinded more against Kyuseishu with his forehead and fingers trying not to grant him a chance to relax. Kyuseishu grunted but he maintained his calm facial features even with the intensive pressure applied on him from Raph's side constantly. They were almost equal on their strengths because none of them even managed to push his adversary an inch back.

"..."

Kyuseishu eventually smirked as he remembered that he had to end this bout quickly before getting spotted by any ANBU trackers. Instead of continuing to grind against Raph, he suddenly loosened up his own pressure on him and pulled back his both arms, dragging Raph's body towards him before untangling their fingers. Raph startled and blinked twice at the sudden shift of pressure but before he recovers his control over his body, Kyuseishu landed a surprising side kick on his chin made him faint momentarily.

"!"

With this temporary advantage he took over the situation, Kyuseishu moved to the left side swiftly as Raph tripped back a bit, trying to recover his balance after the kick he received but Kyuseishu grabbed his right wrist tightly and simultaneously used his right foot to sweep Raph's right leg violently from under him tackling him to the ground.

"AHH!"

Raph snarled nervously but he quickly planted his left foot onto the ground firmly preventing himself from crumbling down at the last second after tripping several feets backwards from his former spot giving Kyuseishu an opportunity to strike again but surprisingly, the latter didn't aim for another strike which gave Raph courage to dash again at him almost immediately before shooting his right fist straight towards his face.

"Hmph!"

Kyuseishu scoffed as he easily caught the fist aimed for him with one hand and simultaneously swung up his left foot with blinding speed smashing it's heel against the joint of Raph's right knee. Raph knelt down on one knee and grumbled faintly although the kick wasn't powerful enough to break his leg but it made him feel that he cannot move it anymore.

"Curse you!"

He growled nervously and glared up at Kyuseishu as he felt that his powers started to weaken from exhaustion. He had to admit to himself that his stamina wasn't that immense compared to Kyuseishu's but it was still too early for him to surrender without trying harder.

"Humph...!"


	9. Chapter 9: Goodbye

In Sunagakure, The Village hidden in sand, the atmosphere wasn't as intense as in Konohagakure even after the rumours that spreaded about Katsumi abandoning the village for the sake of a nameless chunnin from the Hidden Leaf. The ancient Kazekage building that towered the rest buildings in the village which was constructed within an enormous sand valley formerly known as the Valley of Death before it gets inhabited since thousands of years back. The unlimited sand masses that surrounded the village from all directions formed a natural barrier against the outsider assaults across the ages. No wonder why the village withstood a long time without being invaded once by a major enemy regardless the very rare occasions when the village had to face a serious threat from the outside.

Since the foundation of the village by the first Wind Shadow 107 years ago and the Kazekage's huge building was still there standing near the centre of the village. The houses that surrounded it looked relatively primitive from the outside compared to the buildings of the Leaf village.

The symbol of the Great Wind Country was emblazoned on the front wall of the building speaking of the strong ties that have been established between the consecutive Kages of the village and the Feudal Lords of the land of Wind which was controlled by the Samurai at that time, nevertheless, the Ninjas had their own independent authority over the land where they settle and the surrounding lands. However, during the history it was never mentioned that a minor clash once happened between the Ninja and the Samurai.

A Jonin male on his 30th wearing the standard Jonin attire of Sunagakure, stepped slowly into a certain room within the Kazekage's building. A large, wooden desk was set in front of the backside wall and the door was half opened the moment the Jonin had stepped in. Some scrolls from different sizes were dumped randomly upon the desk that the Kazekage old man was sitting behind on his wooden chair. A serious expression was adorning his skinny face and he was identifiable by the Kazekage's outfit that he was wearing; The cloak and the hat with blue edges. The only exposed part of his face was his forehead and his narrowed eyes which seemed to be half closed. The buttom half of his face was covered with a black mask that he never takes off. His forehead was filled with minimal wrinkles which existed also around his pale eyes and made him look like if he was in the middle of his 6th decade of age... He was formally addressed as the Sixth Wind Shadow 'Rukodaime Kazekage'

The Jonin male stepped slowly towards the Hokage's desk and bowed his head slightly in front of him as he stood few feets away from of the desk. He held out his right hand to hand a small folded scroll to the Kazekage as he parted his lips and uttered

"Kazekage Sama, the rumours are true... The Kunoichi goes by the name Katsumi was seen following a rogue ninja from Konoha... She is a chunnin registered in the ninja academy of Sunagakure since she was six years old and had passed the chunnin exams two years ago. By the way, That Leaf Ninja has been declared recently as a Missing-Nin by the 9th Hokage himself."

The Kazekage stretched onto his comfortable chair before he reached slowly for the scroll and took it from the Jonin's hand. He shook his head slightly as he unfolded the scroll in front of his eyes and observed it silently for a while.

"... This is a personal letter from the Hokage, I see... He is demanding from us to hand over the Rogue-Ninja Kyuseishu back to Konoha once we capture him... But I don't know why he wants him alive..."

The Kazekage whispered lowly as he kept reading with his expressionless eyes the content of the scroll over and over.

"I think this Kyuseishu is absolutely more dangerous than we all had estimated..."

He murmured and dumped the scroll on the desk then rose up his head slightly to glance forward with doughty look.

"The Hunter-Nin that I sent to assassinate him must have failed in his mission because Kyuseishu is still alive apparently... It's the first time ever that he fails to assassinate someone, even the talented shinobis crumbled down against him so I wonder what happened with him this time? curse him... Well... I think we should focus now on what's going on in our village and leave the Hokage to handle the issues of his own village..."

He spoke and rolled his eyes downwards staring again at the unfolded scroll as he lifted one hand up and rested his elbow on the desk. A heavy sigh escaped his pale lips as he resumed his citation.

"So, her name was Katsumi huh?! ... That Kunoichi has the blood of the former Kazekage's family circling in her veins so she might represent a threat to our village as well if she combines her strengths with that Rogue from Konoha... I might step further personally thwarted their ambitions... I was expecting that she would attempt to arrange such a reckless disobedience on me one day, that's why I recently put her under surveillance before she abandoned the village. Perhaps, she wasn't able to flee without the assistance of that rogue shinobi from the Leaf."

The Wind shadow sighed briefly and folded the scroll back using one hand before looking towards the Jonin male and narrowed his eyes.

"Well it's enough for now to declare her a Missing-Nin then we will see what we can do about her."

He said. The Jonin male nodded his head in obedience and bowed slightly.

"Yes, Sir!"

* * *

Kyuseishu squeezed Raph's wrist harshly as he pressed the heel of his right foot firmly against the joint of the male's knee disabling his leg's movements. A smirk crawled into his lips as the other grumbled desperately. he gazed down at him with smug expression.

"... Your right hand is occupied by me and you can't use your right leg so it's over... You know that I am the most talented Chunnin that uses hand to hand combat in the Leaf village? Although you didn't deserve to see my personal fighting style..."

Raph grunted and flailed his right arm trying to free it from the grip as he glared at Kyuseishu with ablaze eyes. He hated his boasting and the way he is still down upon him. It made his blood boil with rage within his veins driving him to seek revenge despite knowing that his chances now were limited.

"Are you done bragging already?"

He snarled and surprisingly flicked his right hand clawing the left side of Kyuseishu's face deeply, leaving four bloody scars on his skin. It was the only way to distract him even for a little bit. Kyuseishu groaned nervously and shook his head as he quickly covered his left eye with his hand. The pain made him feel like if his eye was pulled out from it's socket and he found himself forced to let go of Raph's wrist. Raph instantly took advantage of the opportunity and nuked Kyuseishu's jaw with the edge of his palm mercilessly making him groan loudly. But despite getting his jaw smacked with enough brutality to shatter his entire left jawline, Kyuseishu immediately recovered as he bit his tongue to suppress the pain and swiftly threw a high spinning kick towards Raph's face only to receive an upper leg sweep from him almost simultaneously. For his dismay, His kick missed it's target because Raph had spun around himself once the kick was launched at him and swung his left foot in the air with great flexibility towards the right side of Kyuseishu's head as the latter's kick missed him.

"HO!"

Kyuseishu snickered as he ducked his head down, roughly evading the leg sweep with one inch.

"Huh?!"

But He winced once Raph landed his foot back on the ground and shifted his torso around as he turned a half circle with his feet to grant himself a convenient position to strike again. his upper half was now aligned completely with the ground but he left Kyuseishu behind him giving him an opening.

However, In the fraction of second Raph spent to turn around, Kyuseishu's reflexes were still relatively slow so Raph confident with his plan, quickly thrusted his right foot in the air backwards towards Kyuseishu's face as he leaned his upper half more towards the ground to enhance the kick's strength. The kick was extremely fast and he believed that it would easily leave an enormous hole in a rocky wall but unfortunately, Kyuseishu wasn't relying on his pure reflexes at this point. He narrowed his eyes receiving the backward kick with his well trained arms as he crossed them in the form of the Alphabet X in front of his face. His body had simply reacted on it's own to guard itself from the incoming threat but once the kick made impact with his arms, he quickly captured Raph's foot with his both hands firmly before the other tries to pull it back to him.

He did that to restrain the shock produced by the kick which forced a whimper to slip out from his lips. Raph's foot was heavier than he estimated and he thought that his ribs would've been shattered if the kick was successfully delivered to his chest.

"Hmph... Not bad..."

He whispered under his breathe as soon as his face regained the relaxed expression over it but Raph's facial features soon shifted into a a smug grin as he looked back at Kyuseishu over his shoulder.

"Stop talking down to me!"

He shouted aggressively and suddenly lunged with his left fist towards Kyuseishu without putting any effort to snatch his stuck foot.

"Eat this!"

Kyuseishu smirked as he quickly let go of Raph's foot and blocked the charging fist with his right forearm without remarkable effort before exchanging with him a barrage of rapid punches ended up by Kyuseishu smashing his both palms against Raph's chest roughly caused the latter to trip few feets back.

"You didn't get it!"

Raph slid backwards with his feet onto the ground nearly losing his balance but he managed to steady himself. He had nothing to lose anymore after getting humiliated this badly.

"Hmph!"

He snickers furiously and stomped the ground with his foot like if he wanted to unleash his wrath on the earth. He glared at Kyuseishu darkly but he soon realised that he still didn't use all of his tricks yet so he decided to relax. He curled his lips into a sarcastic grin as he panted lightly.

"Heh... I don't know, you maybe skilled in hand to hand combat more than I... but you didn't see anything yet. It's over now!"

He said and chuckled as he stepped back slowly not shifting his eyes an inch away from Kyuseishu who narrowed his eyes suspiciously trying to analyse Raph's intention silently. he sluggishly started to shake off the dust from his clothes.

"...!"

Raph leaped up in the air and landed swiftly on a high tree branch behind the simmering flames which kept devouring the dry bushes around the open field. A mischievous smirk pulled up the corner of his lips as he glanced down towards Kyuseishu and started to cast a couple of handseals with his hands. [~ Snake Boar Dragon Ram! ~]

"... I remember that you successfully passed the chunnin exams relying only on your Taijutsu. But unfortunately, now I won't give you a chance to use your Taijutsu against me anymore!"

Raph murmured confidently realising that he got no other choice to defeat Kyuseishu except using his secret and ultimate jutsu against him. After finishing the handseals set, he lifted the confrontation seal in front of his chin and fixed his fierce gaze on the dry field around Kyuseishu. The latter's eyebrows twitched up slightly as he continued to observe Raph's moves cautiously with his firm steadfast expression. He felt that a serious threat is going to come from Raph especially after noticing the sudden confidence that he gained in his speech but Kyuseishu preferred not to step an inch away from his current spot until he fully realises Raph's plan.

"... What are you up to now? I could smell the air is filled with the scent of your hatred so you won't come to any result even if you push yourself to it's limits!"

Kyuseishu whispered feeling the tension raising in his veins. Time was not on his favour and the challenge that he bind himself with earlier about finishing this bout as quick as possible wasn't certainly effective anymore but there's still time to end it on his favour before they draw unwanted attention. At least unwanted for him. Raph shrugged as he began to mutter slowly.

"Kyuseishu... You're a trapped rat now! Earth Style- Mud Swamp No Jutsu!"

He stated and grinned arrogantly as he glanced down fiercely at Kyuseishu. The dry field around him began to turn into a clingy mud of swamp all in a sudden.

"It's over!"

Kyuseishu startled and looked downwards nervously towards his feet realising that they started to dive slowly into the sticky ground that turned into a literal mud swamp beneath him within a few seconds.

"What the!?"

He shifted his head back up and looked around shockingly watching the whole open field surrounding him turn into an extremely muddy swamp making his feet stuck in the mud.

"Erk ... Damnit... Can't pull my feet!"

He grumbled as he tensed up more and started to get dismayed feeling like a real trapped rat. Raph chuckled maliciously as he looked down with superiority at him.

"See I am the one looking down upon you now... When you wanted to abandon your comrades and the village that you raised within, I can't just sit around and watch you run away..!"

Kyuseishu's body was trembling all over as he failed to prevent his feet from drowning down into the mud. He glared towards Raph furiously and sighed faintly feeling that he was going to drown in his sweat soon even before getting sucked down entirely by the mud. He had already drowned till his ankles which made it impossible for him to drag himself away now.

"Heh... You are just trying to hold me down now as always.. Your methods never really change..."

He stuttered and gasped while panting heavily. He felt that his strengths started to fade away from his grip but that wasn't enough to make him surrender yet.

"Ugh.. You can't even contain me knowing all the truth I've found which drove me to follow this way."

Raph arched a single eyebrow confusedly and shrugged his shoulders.

"What the heck are you talking about? It's no use to speak now because your words don't affect me in any way.. I am taking you back with me to the village as I promised. You forced me to use power against you."

Kyuseishu gritted his teeth furiously as a sweat drop rolled down his forehead. He growled faintly and sharpened his eyes with ablaze glare against Raph. The clingy mud swamp already sucked him down until his knees making his body shudder like if he had been strucked with an electrical shock.

"Urgh! Don't think that you already got me.. You missed what I am about... I earned my way out and ignorant people like you won't understand my ideology even if they were granted to live forever!"

Kyuseishu shouted out as his eyes gleamed frighteningly with a piercing glare.

"... If I stay in Konoha, things will get worse in the end so not even the Hokage himself can stop me!"

He added rigorously and casted the ram handseal as a white mystical particles suddenly started to gather in the air around Raph's body who remained unware until the particles started to materialise into a large sized spider which eventually grabbed a hold of Raph's body from behind, firmly binding his limbs before he could even notice the threat. Raph was putting his full attention on his Swamp of Mud forgetting to keep his guards up.

"!?"

He blinked surprisingly feeling weird smooth skin caressing his limbs harshly which made him roll his eyes to the corner to stare awfully at the creepy white spider that captured him with it's eight limbs.

"Waaaa-"

He screamed with panic as his body started to jerk all over. He'd never seen a spider with a size of a matured human like this one before but now it is grabbing him with it's creepy legs.

"Eeeek! What is this ugly thing!?"

He tried to struggle but failed to free himself. Kyuseishu started to pant heavily and lifted his tangled hands over his chin. He was almost drained from Chakra.

"That's Kutchu, my summon and he looks pleased to meet you... Hehe"

Kyuseishu whispered and smirked sarcastically realising that their little fight is over now. Raph was groaning and squirming nervously trying desperately to free himself from the tight grip of the Spider which hung to a higher tree branch using a very thin spider thread, not even Kyuseishu himself could see the thread.

"Goddamn you Kyuseishu! Let me go now!"

He growled out loudly as he flailed his arms and legs wildly. Kyuseishu maintained his calm expression over his face as a brief sigh escaped his lips. The mud swamp beneath him started to recede slowly and the ground turn back to it's solidified shape but his entire bottom half had drowned into the mud which would make it nearly impossible for him to get out after his body got stuck there. Nevertheless, that wasn't an issue for him now after getting rid of the annoying muddy swamp. He looked back towards Raph with laid back expression and chuckled lightly.

"Here's a last advice for you, You have to watch your back when you fight me you sassy moron.. Perhaps you got it right early when you said it's over, it's absolutely over for you."

He whispered. Raph glared down upon him enviously as he continued to flail roughly within the spider's legs which grasped his body tightly nearly suffocating him. His eyes widened as the Spider suddenly snapped up using it's thin thread that was spewing out from it's mouth to climb upwards lifting Raph slightly off the tree branch that he was standing upon.

"GAH! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO KYUSEISHU?!"

He shouted with terrified manner. Kyuseishu tilted his head slightly as he eyed Raph with expressionless look. At least he could admit to himself that this bout made him feel a bit fatigued despite the other mental bad effects.

"It's not me who has the upper hand here.. I don't want to waste more Chakra and time here so I'll leave it to my spider to take good care of you now.. Kutcho, make sure he enjoys his trip."

Kyuseishu said calmly as his Spider suddenly snorted then started to weave it's clingy threads around Raph's body who he kept writhing desperately and in terms of seconds, his whole body got engulfed entirely with a thick cocoon made out of the Spider's sticky threads.

"NOOOOO!"

The merciless Spider soon vanished in a puff of smoke with the cocoon leaving no trace behind it.

"Sigh..."

Kyuseishu sighed and planted his palms on the ground pulling out his bottom half slowly from the solidified dirt.

"Heh, he is quite clever to choose this battlefield because it's convenient for his Jutsus but he's too clumsy to underestimate me..."

He shook his head slightly and started to walk forward with steady steps on the dry ground. The flames died after devouring half of the surrounding plants. Kyuseishu looked up towards the tree where Raph was standing and sighed of relief.

"In the end he forced me to say goodbye twice.."

...

((To be continued...

/ VOLUME #1 completed

*The Seal of Confrontation (対立の印,Tairitsu no In) which looks like a half-tiger/ram, is the symbol of combat and is an universal sign of engagement between shinobi. It represents half of a seal that might be used to activate a Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. This motion is often used to concentrate chakra, and many shinobi are seen initiating simple, basic techniques as well as few complex ones after making this seal. Raph in this case used it to activate his Mud Swamp Jutsu.


	10. Chapter 10: The Remained Gate

Kyuseishu was traversing a bushy forest after he managed to get rid of the first obstacle that crossed his way. Luckily no ANBU troops were yet to find him...

The atmosphere was utterly calm and the arena which he was crossing seemed like if no human being visited it for long ages. The floor of the forest was clothed with short green grass which was caressing his feet while he runs onwards. The sky was hard to be seen due to th tree thick branches that covered the space above him so and formed like a natural cage so Kyuseishu's only choice was to keep running ahead until he reaches his destination.

However, some pale sun rays were infiltrating through the leaves and bushes otherwise the arena would've been utterly engulfed with darkness.

The average height landed on the ground in a crouch with a calm expression adorning his face which was filled with several superficial wounds and stained with blood. His shaggy black hair was scattered in a messy way upon his forehead. He wasn't granted a time after the fight with his old comrade to take care of his look and reframe his hair to it's natural style.

His grey sleeved jacket and his black pants were wrecked in several spots. Despite of his calm expression, he appeared to be highly aware of any ANBU trackers or unwanted Ninjas that may potentially ambush him.

He bent himself down over the ground and looked around investigating his new environment with his fierce eyes then once he couldn't observe nothing suspicious, he blinked reassuringly and looked down to the the ground sighing slightly. Only God kneq what's going on inside of his head.

'... I think I reached a safe region now although the way I walked within the forest wasn't safe... Well, it's time...'

He whispered to himself and slipped his left hand underneath the fabric of his jacket pulling out his sealing scroll and quickly unfolded it upon the ground in front of his feet... He leaned his upper half slightly forward and slammed his right palm against the distinctive Kanji on the scroll. After seconds, a small pillar of smoke began to elevate from the scroll as he murmured faintly.

"UNSEAL!"

The rustling of the smoke suddenly stopped as Kyuseishu lifted his palm from the scroll watching the smoke pillar gather and shape into human form before unveiling soon on a black haired, young female sitting down with her legs crossed under her on the scroll. She was Katsumi who eventually lifted her head up calmly and slowly started to open her sleepy eyes only to fix them with a hint of confusion on the male that stood over her.

"..."

She suddenly blinked with slight shock as she finally returned to the outsider world after the long time she had to spend sealed inside the scroll in a coma state.

"Where am I?"

She mumbled and pushed back gently some of her messy, silk hair that fell slightly over her forehead and eyes. Kyuseishu was staring down at her with his neutral calm expression.

"I believe we came upon a safe region now far enough from Konoha... I should've not let you sealed for a long time anyways but I had to... How do you feel?"

Katsumi wobbled her head around analysing the new landscape with her half closed eyes as she took a step back and started to stand off the scroll slowly.

"Uh... I feel a bit dizzy but don't worry, it's okay... What is this place by the way?"

She questioned and rubbed her eyes sluggishly as she stood up in front of him. Her straight hair fell gently behind her and reached the middle of her back. Even though her hair wasn't the only trait that made her look pretty cute, Kyuseishu wasn't her that sort of attention that any woman might need from a man close from her. The mission that he sworn to fulfill was consuming almost all of his mental and physical strengths not leaving him a room to take care of other stuff. He leaned down and picked up the scroll from the ground then hid it back under his clothes after wrapping it up but he suddenly felt his stomach groaning from anger which made him remember that he haven't eaten a damned thing since he fled from Konoha exactly seven days back.

"... We are almost close from crossing the North boundaries of the Land of Fire but I'm starving... Have you brought some food with you from Sunagakure?"

He murmured faintly while glancing at her through his eye corner as he turned slightly to face her back with his left side. She tilted her head in refusal and looked back at him across her left shoulder with stern look.

"Even if I had brought food with me, it would've gotten rotten within seven days despite the terrible conditions that we were into... Anyhow, who caused you those nasty scars on your face?"

"...It's nothing important, I had to get rid of a klutz who tried to make me return to Konoha... Let's keep going..."

Katsumi narrowed her eyes as she stared at him suspiciously and placed her hand on her left bandaged hip.

"Weren't we heading North? At this rate, we must be close from the- Impossible!"

Her eyes widened a fraction at the realisation she came upon which made her feel weird tingling on her palms but Kyuseishu's words came quickly to confirm her thought.

"The Rice Fields country where the territory of The Hidden Sound Village is!"

He whispered calmly not trying to sound so obliterated and rolled his eyes back up to glance forward with valiant expression.

"Otogakure... It's the only option left for us that Konoha's ANBU troops will never expect us to take as a shelter..."

Katsumi widened her eyes more and glared at him as a her long eyelashes twitched up.

"Otogakure!? It's the main Headquarter of Orochimaru you idiot!... That creep snake. What would drive you to think that we should sneak up into his lair to hide from the ANBU troops of Konoha!?"

She complained harshly. Kyuseishu sighed briefly and looked back at her across his shoulder confidently as he finally stood upright before her.

"...Don't panic, Katsumi, we can't go back an inch from this point onwards... We even have no time to hesitate now! The ANBU troops must be flipping every corner of the forest eagerly to find us and probably the ANBU of your village as well might had received orders to hunt you down... There's no use in backing off now!"

Katsumi gulped lightly at his realistic citation and narrowed her eyebrows with concern as she lifted up her blank gaze towards him.

"I know but... It's still too reckless to storm into the hideout of the most horrible Ninja in existence, that's if he deserves to be called a Ninja not a monster... I've heard several hilarious stories about him like the one telling that he was able to summon the Shinigami at some point..."

Kyuseishu smirked at her complaints and tilting his head to the side as he took one step forward and stretched his arms backwards to relax his body.

"Orochimaru...His strengths had to be weakened now and regardless that the possibility of us finding him face to face in Otogakure is less than 1 out 10, he might be dead because it's been several years since his news reached Konoha. I guess he aged more than 75 years. Besides, I am looking forward to meet someone important to me in Otogakure so even if our destiny put us face to face with Orochimaru, we shouldn't be worried at all because the certain someone that I am willing to meet owes me a great favour so they won't allow Orochimaru harm us..."

He completed his convincing speech and looked slightly at Katsumi only to find that she was staring at him deeply with the same worrisome while folding her arms under her small chest.

"But..."

She stuttered and shook her head lightly then looked downwards towards her feet letting out a heavy sigh hiss through her dry lips.

"If you say so Kyu kun."

"Anyways, who is the person that you are looking forward to meet who works with Orochimaru?"

Katsumi murmured as the trees around then were getting more bushier and bigger. They both kept running through the forest in the North direction closer and closer from their destination. Katsumi landed on the ground with a light thud as she kept her arms lifted high above her head to ensure a safe landing before resuming to run ahead behind Kyuseishu who was running while fixing his blank gaze forward ignoring everything around him.

"You will know in the right time... It's a special person..."

He muttered. Katsumi was about to ask spontaneously "Special more than me?" but she refrained her tongue from slipping in the last second.

" Slow down your running pace, we are so close... Orochimaru's headquarters lays about hundreds of meters ahead of us."

Kyuseishu added without waiting for her answer. Katsumi gulped nervously as she felt the same weird chill ran down throughout her spine. Hearing Orochimaru's name alone was enough to make her body shudder non-stop. Her heart started to beat rapidly as her small cheeks flushed bright red from the expectations running in her brain.

"..."

She blinked twice trying to maintain her calmness as she sighed lightly and slowed down her running pace a little bit and look up at him.

"This ain't the first time you visit Otogakure right?"

She wondered noticing how well the environment seemed familiar to him. Kyuseishu stomped casually on a small branch dumped on the ground as he ran ahead of her and nodded lightly.

"It's the second time, I crossed the boundaries of the Fire Country to Otogakure before once... But I've never arrived so close from Orochimaru's hideout like this time."

He said and Katsumi sighed again. She narrowed her eyes and stared at him closely as her bottom lip twitched up.

"To be honest, I am a irritated about what'll be waiting for us there... I can't predict future but I feel that something bad is going to happen soon."

Kyuseishu continued to run few meters before halting next to a huge trunk then he turned in her direction and glanced at her reassuringly.

"... I even can't presume what is waiting for us but everything is going to be alright..."

"" Seems we got two uninvited guests here...""

A mysterious disembodied voice called out suddenly from nowhere made Kyuseishu and Katsumi flinch. Kyuseishu manifested that It was a feminine voice but he tensed as his eyes went slightly wide and he robotically shifted his head in the upper left direction towards the huge tree beside him.

"Who's there!?"

He questioned anxiously. Katsumi took a fighting position almost immediately as she blinked and raised her thin eyebrows looking up offensively towards the same tree which Kyuseishu was staring upon.

"!?"

They held their breathe until a silhouette of a human being began to emerge slowly from the shadows that engulfed the tree. It was an average height woman with crimson long hair and relatively sizeable, at least that's what Kyuseishu noted. She was standing upright on the tree high branch right above Kyuseishu who kept eying her with a dull expression but she observed them fiercely with a slight sarcastic smirk floating on her lips.

"..."

She wore a pale crimson knee-length robe with transparent leggings underneath and a pair of black Shinobi sandals on her feet. Her long silky hair was left untamed and was smoothly falling upon her shoulders. Two long strands of her hair were crossing her forehead down until her nose bridge. Her cold eyes were displaying an unfriendly look but the smirk on her lips gave her face a slightly neutral expression.

''Kuku...'

She whispered shifting her dark brown orbs from the female to the male who eventually smiled as he continued to eye the woman closely. Everything on her was surely familiar to him.

"We are just having a little promenade here, hehe... I hope we aren't heavy guests on this land."

Kyuseishu said with confident voice as he kept his eyes attached to the woman observing the curvy edges of her lower half underneath her tight fitting robe.

"Wait, since when have you been watching us? It's odd that we haven't noticed your presence until you called out..."

He added and simultaneously started to wonder why she seems like if she if she was ill or something. The woman gave a dead smile and shrugged her shoulders lightly. When she jumped off the branch and swiftly landed on the ground few feets near Kyuseishu's left side, her smile faded away and a grim expression took over her pale features. She was roughly shorter than Katsumi with some inches and her general body shape and slender waist showed that she was still in her thirties. She took a step to the side patiently towards Kyuseishu and planted her right hand on her waist glancing up at him with doughty look.

"A promenade you said, eh? Or seeking for a hideout?"

The red haired woman uttered with a taunting voice. A lifeless smile soon crept into her lips but it wasn't absolutely a smile from the heart because her eyes revealed the opposite emotions beyond those dark lashes of hers. Kyuseishu turned to face with a spontaneous smile and stared at her for moments before nodding his head slightly.

"But being the North Gate for you Tayuya, means that you are responsible for watching over the North boundaries of Otogakure not the south boundaries, am I right?"

He said. Tayuya shook her head and looked away instantly. She was certainly distracted with something but her she maintained her grim expression which unveiled her her strong personality that took over her affectionate side. She shrugged with her shoulders and looked again at him with etched look.

"You are right... But what makes you think that watching over the other gates isn't my responsibility as well? Since the other three Gates of Otogakure have fallen, I have to fill in for them because I am the solo Gate that stood still until now."

She murmured with deep voice made Katsumi ogle her suspiciously trying to realise the essence of her words.

"..."

The Kyuudaime Hokage sat calmly on his chair behind his desk inside his office. He was staring with featureless expression forward through his dark glasses and resting his chin on the back of his bony hand while laying his elbows gently on the desk. He slowly started to whisper with croaky voice fixing his gaze on the Jonin male that eventually stood before his desk.

"... He doesn't represent any threat on the village at least for the time being... I have more important issues to handle at the moment than him. However, the General commander of the ANBU troops has finally returned to Konoha from his long journey so he will surely take care of that brat Kyuseishu."

The Jonin male nodded his head slightly then stepped forward before placing a wrapped scroll on the desk in front of the Hokage.

"... This is a letter from the Rukodaime Kazekage... I think it's the response to your letter which you sent him few days ago."

He whispered and stepped back respectfully. The Kyuudaime eyed the scroll calmly and wove his hand before his face for the Jonin who immediately understood and turned off to leave the room without uttering a word. The Hokage sighed and grasped the scroll lifting it up in front of his eyes as a malicious grin crawled across his lips.

"... It's time to make everything work out according to my will..." He murmured and clenched his fist around the scroll tightly..

...

Kyuseishu's eyes twitched as he stared at Tayuya closely with slight shock. A sweat drop ran down across the side of his head slowly.

"Don't tell me... Kidomaru sensei had passed away?!"

The red headed female nodded slowly and lowered her eyelids a bit as she looked downwards at her feet. His question left her no room to remain coherent and she felt that it was meaningless to hide the truth from him.

"... It happened three years ago... I already got used to live alone without him and the others..."

She spoke with brittle voice even with her efforts to not sound agitated. Kyuseishu sighed as he slowly walked over her towards her and patted her left shoulder. The news of Kidomaru's death strucked him like a bolt. He admired his teachings even if it was only for a bit of time.

"I am sorry to hear... Is it Orochimaru?"

Tayuya rolled her eyes to the corner slowly like if she was trying to avoid making eye contact with him. And she faced away. The wound that she tried hard to forget by time is reopened.

"... It's a mere part of the past... Remember, I still owe you my entire life so I don't want you to go after Orochimaru... He will kill you."

Kyuseishu looked down and narrowed his eyes thinking of her words. He had almost forgotten what he did to save her seven years back when he first met her. He tried to recall that incident but his memory betrayed him.

"... Don't worry... Orochimaru is going to pay previously sooner or later but I hope that won't be done by own my hands."

To be continued...


	11. Chapter 11: Within The Snake's Lair

"Follow me..."

Tayuya was walking slowly ahead of Kyuseishu and Katsumi on the short grass that lidded the ground beneath the trees of the forest. She turned her head slightly towards them and looked at Kyuseishu across her shoulder with concern.

"... So you have been declared a Rogue Ninja already? I doubted that one day you'd walk the same path as Orochimaru sama."

Kyuseishu was walking while leaning his head down slightly, staring at the ground as if he was distracted with other thoughts.

"..."

He shrugged his shoulders and glanced towards Katsumi through the corner of his vision. She was walking silently alongside him while gazing forward with slightly perturbed look. The three of them were approaching an ancient rocky stronghold set under a huge tree roots. The front side of the stronghold has two distinctive markings of snakes inscribed vertically above the dark entrance of the Hideout...

Tayuya glanced towards Katsumi reassuringly as she noticed the hesitant look over her face. She kinda started to like her after she figured how much she meant to Kyuseishu even though he didn't show it. Once Tayuya walked over the entrance, she stopped and turned around towards them displaying a serious expression on her pale face.

"Well... There is no need to worry .. Orochimaru sama is no longer vicious. I even can't remember when was the last time I've seen him casting a Ninjutsu."

"So he is here..."

Kyuseishu replied as he eyed the red-haired female closely. He realised that the meeting with Orochimaru was indeed inevitable after all unlike he planned.

"To be honest, he rarely steps out from the hideout lately because he's been ill. Maybe it's just the ordinary health issues of at 70 years old man."

Tayuya added waiting for them to step forth. She hoped that what she said was reassuring enough. Kyuseishu looked back at Katsumi and patted her shoulder politely as he took a step forward.

"I already told you that Orochimaru must be in no condition to represent a threat for us."

He said. Katsumi let a soft sigh slip through her swollen lips and nodded her head slightly as she observed the stronghold with narrowed eyes feeling her heart pound hard inside her chest. Tayuya's reassuring words weren't enough to make her comfortable because Orochimaru was the one who killed her grandfather and she kept memorizing that fact since it got told to her in her early childhood. Thus, she decided to avoid Orochimaru and anything that revolves around him no matter what.

"... Let's just go on in."

She whispered faintly feeling that she can't either afford to put down Kyuseishu. She would throw herself off a cliff if he asked.

...

The trio walked across a dark corridor with Tayuya leading the way. Some candles hung on the ceiling were lighting the place but not enough to suppress all the darkness that engulfed the corners of the narrow hall. Katsumi felt a light shudder of cold on her skin or it could be because of fear and other mixed expectations. She rubbed her bare arm sluggishly and rolled her eyes around observing the place as she walked abreast with Kyuseishu and tried to stay as quiet as possible although she was wondering why he's still calm unlike her. She wasn't even able to see her feet because of darkness or even hear their footsteps echoing which made her think that the floor of the corridor was hollow or something.

Tayuya was walking silently with a regular steps ahead of them without looking behind her which gave Katsumi a nasty feeling that she was probably leading them to hell not towards a room to rest.

After few minutes of marching which Katsumi felt like if they were a long hours, the Red head stopped in front of a certain wooden door in the right wall of the corridor. She turned around towards them and pushed the door open with a swift move of her left hand before offering a fainted cheesy smile as she gazed upon them.

"All I can do now is to offer this modest room... I hope you find it comfortable."

She said as her lower lip twitched minimally. Katsumi looked to the side as she stopped few meters behind Kyuseishu. Now she could finally see her feet but she somehow felt more insecure than the moment they entered.

'Shit... I forgot to memorize the path that we crossed to reach this point. I am sure that the corridor we crossed is curvy and interlocks with many other corridors... I noticed that through the cool breezes of air coming from several directions. Well, if something bad happens, we won't be able to get out from her easily because this hideout is a real maze...'

Katsumi muttered to her inner self before looking back towards Tayuya without paying real attention to what she was saying.

"We are thankful, Tayuya san."

She whispered. Tayuya planted her hands on her hips and nodded slightly displaying the same smile as before but this time looked more friendly.

"I shall get going now, Please relax and call for me if you ever need any service..."

She said and turned slowly to walk off before completely getting swallowed by the darkness. Kyuseishu followed her with his eyes until she disappeared from his eyesight then he looked back at Katsumi and sighed faintly.

"I feel super tired, let's walk in."

Katsumi nodded and stepped slowly towards the opened door with unsure expression was obviously adorning on her face.

"Ummm..."

She hummed and reached her hand backwards pushing the door closed with her palm after both of them got in the room. She then looked downwards towards the floor as she stood facing Kyuseishu.

"I don't feel alright.. I think I am a bit fatigued as well."

A tiny candle was placed upon a small cubic, rocky desk set in the centre of the room and it was lighted the chamber which was large enough to contain two benches inside of it. The ceiling was 4 meters elevated from the floor.

Kyuseishu laid down with his back onto one of the benches and stretched his arms out like a cat trying to relax from the mental and physical stress that he was suffering. He let his both feet droop from the edge of the bench and closed his eyes trying to give his brain some repose but he realised that Katsumi was still standing motionless in one spot. He looked up at her and rose his eyebrows confusedly.

"...Why don't you give if a rest? Don't you feel comfortable or are you worried about something?"

He questioned. Katsumi shook her head and walked over the other bench slowly before sitting down on the edge, joining her knees together.

"Indeed, I am not comfortable."

She whispered as she extended her arms backwards and laid her hands on the white sheets that covered the bench.

"... Just how much can you trust that lady?"

She murmured and darted her eyes that suddenly acquired a tough look towards him.

"You know even if you completely trust her, we shouldn't lay back and relax knowing that someone like Orochimaru might intend to kill us anytime... After all, Tayuya is one of his pawns and she can't disobey him."

She added bluntly and sighed as her middle finger twitched. Kyuseishu looked in her direction with dull expression as he interlocked his fingers behind the back of his neck.

"Tayuya san is not that type of woman to bite her word so if she said we're safe that means we are safe... But... it's ok if you distrust me."

Katsumi's eyes widened a fraction as she kept eying him closely trying to peek into his thoughts but she let him continue.

"It's a sort of a bond between us her and I had developed since the first time we encountered so I have faith on her word."

He said leaving no room for her to complain any further but Katsumi narrowed her eyes and glanced upon him sharply.

"That doesn't necessary make her an ally to us. She's mischievous, can't you see the way she smile? I realised that when my eyes first encountered hers."

Kyuseishu sighed and looked away curving his lips into a minimal pout.

"..."

He rolled his eye balls back to the center of their sockets and stared at her blankly before murmuring with roughly audible voice."Katsumi..."

"Hm?"

"What makes me think of you as my ally at this point?"

Katsumi blinked two times slowly not expecting that kind of reply. Her gaze shifted downwards as she loosened her etched expression a bit.

"Well I am different than her... I just can't completely afford to relax right now..."

She murmured realising that she has no other arguments to use. She stared at her feet for an extended moment before placing her left hand on her bare knee.

"Okay, since you trust her, I'll try to relax a bit..."

She whispered and leaned back her upper half slightly allowing her untamed long hair strands to fall down unto the middle of her back. Kyuseishu nodded as he watched her stretch her arms backwards sluggishly onto the sheets and clutching into them gently with her tiny fingers.

"I hope it won't be a long night as I expected..."

Katsumi uttered with a long exhale exited her lips while staring up at the ceiling of the room but her eyes soon darted towards Kyuseishu noticing that he was staring at her breasts with a colourless eyes like if he had fell in a coma.

"!?"

She blinked and glared at him accusingly. She didn't mind him doing that but she figured out that he was staring intentionally while thinking deeply about something else. He suddenly sat up and crawled with his rear to the edge of his bench as he started to observe the corners of the room suspiciously.

"Why it is so silent... I am starting to feel anxious about something strange..."

Kyuseishu murmured and got up quickly on his feet then turned to look at the door firmly.

"... I always wanted to investigate Orochimaru's secret labs and it looks like my opportunity now to do it..."

He said and Katsumi's eyebrows twitched up slightly. his sudden decision shocked her and made her shiver from head to toe. She Shifted her head up in his direction and glared at him with dumbfounded look.

"Say what!? Are you insane or something? If he captures you, he won't show you any mercy."

She complained but Kyuseishu looked back at her calmly for a while as he stepped slowly towards the door.

"... I'll be right back... I will make sure that nobody notices me so stay here until I return, okay?"

Katsumi sighed and pouted the corner of her lips trying to hide her perturbed expression as she continued to eye him closely. You're really insane, she thought.

"... Just be careful... Don't forget you're playing with fire..."

She whispered with shivering lips and narrowed her eyes watching him leave the room but she couldn't feel comfortable with his decision or just the fact that he left her alone on a dismal place like this. She bounced off the bench and pushed the door close with the heel of her bare foot hysterically as she grunted silently. She hoped that he is not doing that only to test her patience for the sake of his personal purposes.

Once he stepped out from the room into the corridor, Kyuseishu started to observe the place closely despite the darkness that engulfed everything. He stepped forward slowly towards the opposite side wall of the corridor feeling weird chills of enthusiasm and fear rolling within his body... Getting his hand on Orochimaru's secret labs was his true ambition regardless of the fact that he could be risking his life to fulfill it. He shifted his head to the left side as he stood beside the wall and stared calmly at the thick steam of darkness before him.

'It's easy for anyone to lose the sense of directions in a maze like this but this darkness might be helpful for me...'

He whispered to his inner self and leaned with his back against the stony wall behind him as he he moved his head back sluggishly pressing it onto the wall. He simultaneously lifted his both hands up to the level of his torso and placed his both opened palms on the wall sluggishly like if he was searching for a secret door embedded within the wall but the back of his neck, the back of his waist and his both ankles suddenly started to dive into the solid wall like if it was made out of loose mud instead of hard stone, his both arms as well started to dive into the wall slowly before he merged his entire body into it without any sound or vibrations.

'... Even Orochimaru himself...'

He whispered out from the wall like if the wall had finally decided to slip out from it's long silence and utter.

'... Won't be able to find me while I am one with everything...'

* * *

A wooden door opened a crack as a bare feminine foot stepped forth on the floor of a faintly lighted room. The female took another step towards a large bed set alongside the side wall where a tall man with straight long hair laid onto it with his back silently. Their face was hidden with their thick hair strands that fell fluently unto their shoulders. They were staring down at their lifted knees and their lower half was covered by a white blanket similar to the colour of their pale skin.

"..."

The person's left leg twitched a bit under the blanket as they realised the presence of the female red head but they continued to stare calmly at their knees before finally uttering with hollow voice.

"... We have guests, eh?"

Tayuya's dark eyelashes twitched slightly but she brought her right hand up and pushed the door close behind her as she walked more steps towards the bed without removing his hues from the person laying upon iy.

"How did you you know? I mean you're still not able to walk because of your legs..."

She whispered lowly as she stood in front of them. She was wearing nothing but her small underwears.

"Heh. Do you still think I am a helpless old senile? Tayuya, you should never forget that physical handicaps don't bother me."

It was a male who whispered without lifting his eyes off his knees. Tayuya couldn't distinguish from his words if he's being sarcastic like usual but a smirk curled up the corner of her pale lips as she murmured submissively.

"It's an old friend... You don't know him. Well, He is not going to settle here for long though..."

She had already untied the laces of her panties so she let them slip down slowly across her legs before falling around her bare feet.

"Please,Forget about them. You have to rest now..."

She threw herself to him. but for some reason she's still finding it difficult to get used to being a sex slave especially for a nasty creature like him. He has been using her just like a tool so she had no choice other than acting like a tool to satisfy his needs until the end of her days...

* * *

Kyuseishu's eye balls emerged slightly from a stony wall of a certain room of the hideout. He didn't expect that travelling through walls would be as painful as ripping his skin off his bones. As he began to emerge his head with sluggish motion out from the wall, he found himself inside another room which was floating in thick darkness. The room was relatively smaller than the previous rooms that he had infiltrated.

'This room is also empty...'

He murmured silently to himself as he landed one foot on the floor before emerging the rest parts of his body with a low whimper of pain.

'Is it a trap...?'

He blinked taking a mental note and looked around the room cautiously before starting to walk forward with confident steps, observing the surrounding walls and corners of the room with calm expression.

'Damn it... This room doesn't seem to have any door or I am just being hypnotized...?'

He whispered and squinted his eyebrows. Before he could take any step further, his eyes fell on a medium sized stony pillar in the centre of the room. Some sort of mysterious writings, geometric forms and drawings were engraved on the edges of the pillar but Kyuseishu didn't have the room to be interested on those stuff. He sought for something much more greater than mere carvings.

"..."

He resumed walking with the same slow steps towards the centre of the room while feeling weird chills running down his spine. It wasn't the darkness that prevented him from discovering a doorway out from the room but the feel that he was trapped in a cage like a bird. With his narrowed eyes, he eyed the ceiling closely as he stood by the pillar.

"Shit... I am lost... This room should be a bait for those who have the ability to merge through solid walls like me and I fell for it stupidly... Damn it! I won't be able to find my way out from here without a door even with my ability of walking through walls... In this case I have to watch out for any traps while moving..."

He grumbled nervously as he blinked a couple of times without moving his gaze away from the ceiling. Soon his sharp eyes detected a very thin slit on the ceiling close from the crown of the pillar.

"There!"

He smirked confidently placing his palm on the pillar then he slowly started to dive with his body into it.

"Ahhhhhhh..."

It took him mere seconds to fully merge his body into the stony pillar before he began to travel upwards smoothly within it feeling a strange twitches in his body by approaching the ceiling more and more. After a few minutes, he started to emerge his trembling arm out from the upper floor sluggishly before quickly emerging the rest parts of his body with a fainted whimper slipped out from his dry lips. He felt withered from the extreme effort he put to cast that skill...

He finally found himself inside another dark room but it was larger than the former rooms that he had visited. A malicious grin floated on his lips as he raised his head up and scanned the room corners with his piercing eyevision.

"..."

The room seemed empty to him from the first glance as he stood upright on his feet like a wedge. Bringing his right hand up to the level of his waist, he started to walk forward patiently seeing nothing but darkness engulfing him.

"...!?"

His eyes suddenly went wide a fraction as he stopped walking in front of a large artificial wooden cabinet. He blinked noticing several glassy containers with different sizes arranged inside the cabinet's racks.

"Hmmm... Experimental snakes... I see..."

Kyuseishu felt his arms tingle as he observed the alive snakes inside those bottles but he couldn't find out any other special experiment subjects that he was expecting to find here. Not even a single scientific formula... He sighed faintly and took two steps back but his eyelashes suddenly twitched up as he casually glanced to the right side seeing a low wooden desk set few meters away from the cabinet. Some folded scrolls were placed here and there upon it.

"Heh, finally..."

He whispered and turned to walk towards the desk with cautious steps deciding to continue investigating the cabinet later on. As he approached the desk more, he narrowed his eyes with concern mixed with slight anxiety.

"What in the world is this..!?"

A chopped human forearm was planted in the centre of the desk which stunned Kyuseishu for a while as he stood there blinking constantly while staring with wide eyes at the mysterious arm. He realised that it was probably chopped with a sharp tool or something but he couldn't figure out the essence of leaving a half forearm in a place like this. Maybe it was just a warning for those nosy people who dare to step on this forbidden territory like him. All the fingernails of the hand were painted with dark crimson colour but it was certainly a male arm. The pinkie finger was holding a blue ring with a distinctive Kanji inscribed on it's lobe which Kyuseishu found it impossible to read because of the darkness.

"..."

He continued staring at the hand feeling the mixed enthusiastic chills and expectations returning to him which made horrible thoughts creep into his brain prompting him to visualise brutal killing scenes right in front of him.

"!"

He shuddered from inside out feeling like if his viscera has been yanked out his stomach but he quickly shook his head repeatedly and looked away from the arm to blow off those thoughts that conquered his mind for a while.

'Damn it... The owner of this arm must have witnessed so much brutality... Some of his hidden memories were probably still haunting this arm...'

He whispered to himself tilting his head down as he finally managed to recover his inner calmness but he couldn't stop panting. Something was bugging him to leave the room as quick as possible. He placed a step back to walk away from the desk slowly, planting his left hand on his hip but his body suddenly froze on the same place as his both ears picked up a monstrous hiss coming from behind him which made him tense up as he shockingly widened his eyes.

"Who's there!?"

A sweat drop fell off the side of his head to the floor between his feet as he slowly lifted his chin up and darted his eyes to the side without turning around but he could spot a tall person standing right behind him and eying him with intense glare. Kyuseishu narrowed his eyes anxiously once his glance fell on the mysterious person. He analysed his appearance in an eye blink and instantly realised that he should run. The person which was seemingly a male had black, long hair and he was taller than Kyuseishu with mere inches as he stood three feets behind him. A sarcastic expression was adorning his long, pale face which was covered almost completely with his straight hair strands but that couldn't hide his golden, monstrous eyes which were encircled with thin purple linings intensifying the intimidating look on them. He was wearing an ankle-length white, sleeved robe strapped with thin dark lines on the edges of the both sleeves. He grinned maliciously showing his fang-like teeth as he slowly licked his bottom lip with his slippery tongue.

"Kuku..."

|| To be continued...


	12. Chapter 12: Provoked Serpant

Kyuseishu felt a tough shudder roll down throughout his body. Getting busted by Orochimaru inside his own lab was worse than a nightmare turning into reality. His eyebrows twitched as he analysed all the possible scenarios that might happen. The best scenario that he could think of was more intimidating than the most bitter visualizations he had saw ever, in an eye blink he was standing there sweating profusely without even being able to refrain himself from shuddering. He wished if a hole could open somehow under his feet and swallow him up instead of facing this tremendous fear that made every bit of his faith and courage he earned fade away like a whim.

"..."

Orochimaru shook his head as the most malicious human expression surfaced upon his long face. His eyes were devouring Kyuseishu although his physical actions were still not revealing any of his dark intentions, until he licked his bottom lip with the tip of his tongue sluggishly and sharpened the flammable stare on his eyes.

"Nice attempt..."

He murmured with deep voice as he put a step forth closing the distance between him and Kyuseishu more. The echoing sound of his footstep made Kyuseishu feel an enormous dose of adrenaline rush in his veins which hypnotized his senses slightly and made him feel like if his body was floating in a hollow vacuum where nothinf exists except him and Orochimaru.

"Kuku... Are you scared? I just arrived to check something out but I didn't imagine that I will find a filthy rat messing in my lab... I wonder where did the courage that made you sneak into my lab fade now? Is that chopped arm made your courage crumble, I presume? Losing that arm was the dear price for making an attempt like yours to steal what's not mine..."

He whispered slowly but Kyuseishu couldn't distinguish if he was being serious or ironic. Orochimaru chuckled faintly and placed another step forward. The distance between them shrunk to less than five feet.

"However, I am amused that a brat like you has enough bravery to infiltrate my own territory. I believe you aren't an ordinary kid, are you?"

He taunted and took a third step forward fixing Kyuseishu with his mischievous eyes.

Kyuseishu blinked anxiously watching the threat approaching him more and more from behind. He was still struggling to find a way to get himself out from this dilemma but the bell of danger suddenly rang inside his brain as Orochimaru took another step closer crossing the red line of physical safety.

"!"

Kyuseishu's legs trembled like they weren't brave anymore to lift his weight. He froze like a statue not being able to even decide to step forth or back or in any other direction. All the scenarios he had visualised led him to realise that any attempt to flee was impossible. Orochimaru was the one who killed several potential shinobis and even death itself couldn't tangle him. Kyuseishu was aware of that and thus made him wish death before facing it by Orochimaru's hands. Seconds passed like hours. Kyuseishu's heart was pounding hard within his chest. He felt Orochimaru's feet land right behind him which raised his tension dramatically and made him hold his breathe waiting for the other to drill his fangs into his skin and devour him like an Anaconda.

"I thought you will amuse me more but in the end you're just an easy prey..."

Orochimaru scoffed eventually and held out his pale hand towards Kyuseishu's head slowly. His fingertips nearly caressed Kyuseishu's hair but his eyelashes suddenly twitched up watching Kyuseishu's body turn into water before melting away into the wooden floor of the chamber.

"!?"

His fingers passed through a mere water body as he tried to grab a hold of Kyuseishu. It was less than three seconds before Kyuseishu's liquefied body merged completely into the floor beneath Orochimaru's feet who was left astonished for a moment for the surprise but he scoffed and stared down at the floor sarcastically as a faint smile floated upon his pale lips.

"I see... The Hydrification Jutsu of the Hozuki clan... This kid is really no ordinary shinobi but let's see how long can he run and hide from me, hue..."

* * *

Back to where Kyuseishu left Katsumi- It was dark even though it was still evening.

Katsumi rolled around on her bed closing her eyes. Since the night she left Sungakure almost one week ago she hadn't put a bite of food in her mouth, too much for her fragile body to handle. But she wouldn't care about her stomach in such circumstances. Her worries and mixed emotions were killing her slowly. It's been more than an hour since he left her alone in this isolated chamber within the lair of snake. Katsumi opened her eyes slowly as she rolled to her back and stared with restless gaze towards the ceiling, She seemed calm from the outside but she was burning from inside.

In a moment she thought she was just another unfortunate girl her fate led her to the hideout of the monster and the killer of her grandfather. She rested her arms on the bed and clenched onto the sheets with her tiny fingers trying to relax and gather herself together... Is he alive... What if Orochimaru busts him... Why the hell do I even need to worry... What's the purpose behind what we're trying to do... She thought to herself. A sudden feeling kicked up in her brain made her snap from her position and sit up on the bed hugging her knees to her chest.

She shook her head and crawled slowly to the edge of the bed before landing her bare feet quietly on the cold floor. With firm eyes she looked towards the closed door as she brought up her left hand slowly and rubbed her arm with her fingertips.

"... What the heck is he doing? He said he will be right back and it's already one hour and half since he left me here... Is it possible that Orochimaru captured him... No, no, no..."

She whispered lowly to herself as she bit on her bottom lip nervously. her eyes were still fixed on the door while her arched eyebrows were minimally twitching. She waited to hear Kyuseishu's foot steps approaching but she heard nothing but the sound of silence. Her heart was now pounding hard against her chest. She bit her bottom lip once more.

"... I know he's not easy to get trapped... But it seems he's still hiding some secrets for me..."

She let a muddled sigh escape her pale lips as she looked downwards at her knees with irritation.

"!?"

Her hazel eyes widened suddenly but only for one second as she rose her eyebrows slightly and stared blankly at the floor beneath her feet. She felt a familiar shudder run down her spine as a dark mysterious spot started to expand slowly on the wooden floor in front of her bare feet.

"..."

A human arm started to emerge slowly from the newly formed dark spot and stretched outwards nearly touching Katsumi's knee.

"!"

Katsumi tensed up lightly but she didn't move a fibre as she watched the rest of the arm emerge from the solid floor and shortly followed by the rest body parts belonged to a familiar figure.

"Kyuseishu..."

Katsumi mumbled dimly almost allowing a smile to crawl up her lips. She planted her hands on her hips and regarded him with beatific stare releasing a heavy sigh from her tightened chest.

"... I'm glad you're finally back..."

Kyuseishu was looking down to the floor with lifeless stare as he knelt up on one knee in front of her. A sweat drop rolled down his chin and dripped to the floor between his feet as he panted lightly without even raising up his head to look at her.

"..."

Katsumi blinked slowly at his silence and tilted her head a bit to the side looking back towards the door with concerned look. She leaned back a little resting her palms again onto the bed sheets behind her and allowed another sigh to slip through her lips. His return made her feel a bit more relaxed.

"I was scared. I thought something bad happened to you... Don't leave me like this again , idiot."

She whispered. Kyuseishu grabbed her fragile wrist suddenly as he stood up in front of her and looked at her gravely.

"LET'S GET OUT OF HERE NOW!"

"What happened!?"

Tayuya whispered. Her voice filled with nervousness as she looked forward with narrowed eyes towards Orochimaru who was standing few meters before her facing her with his back. Tayuya bit on her bottom lip gently as she watched him dive with his feet slowly into the wooden floor. He was wearing his standard shinobi outfit consisted of an ankle-length black pants and a sleeved grey kimono shirt bore a mysterious markings on the rims and strapped with distinct streaks on the edges of the low collar. His both legs were wrapped with white thick bandages from the ankles until his calves and his purple snake-like belt was tied around his waist as usual.

As he sank into the floor to his middle he chuckled faintly as his golden eyes gleamed with mysterious light.

"I can't afforded to let him escape.. Nobody before him dared to sneak into one my secret labs so I will give him an unforgettable lesson in manners."

He whispered with hollow voice. Tayuya held her breathe for a couple of seconds and glanced at him with deadpan expression.

"..."

She bit on her lower lip again but with more intensity this time. She squeezed her brain trying to find an excuse for Kyuseishu to make Orochimaru back off in his decision but she ultimately couldn't come to a reasonable excuse. The small lacy panties she wore made her body look more narrow than when she was wearing her full clothes. She never thought that Orochimaru would ever find her body impressive anyway. On the floor there was her red bra dumped next to her feet. She would bring her hand up and stroke her small breasts if that is going to distract him in anyway but he wasn't even looking at her. He faced her with his back like he always does, leaving her behind his tracks.

She squinted her eyebrows and took a step forward with her left bare foot in his direction as she shook her head fixing her brooding stare on him.

"Kyuseishu... Is... He is just a sassy kid.. He wasn't really realising what he was doing... Please let it go this time..."

She said finally remembering to inhale the air. She thought that whatever she says won't be convincing enough to make him shift his attention from that poor boy and his companion but she decided to try anyway, least for the sake of her promise to him.

"...He is my guest.. What he did is my own fault so please, punish me instead of him..."

Her lips were twitching constantly as she murmured with pleading voice. Orochimaru replied with a half smirk to himself. He wasn't giving a heed to her words and she realised that her arguments were valueless, just like her own self.

" Heh... Don't worry... I'm just going to treat him as a precious guest and tear his flesh off his bones then hang his body up to the ceiling in the same lab he sneaked into to make him an exemplary for anyone who dares to infiltrate my territory next time."

He said and chuckled faintly as he melted away into the floor leaving Tayuya in astonishment. She brought one hand in front of her chest and grunted silently. Her eyes glinting with wrath. She felt like a useless piece of crap standing alone in the dark. Her left hand curled into a fist unconsciously.

"... I can't afford to let him hurt them... I'll have to stop him no matter what... Even if I need to risk my own life..."

She murmured to herself and leaned to pick her bra from the floor. Imaging what Orochimaru could do was enough to make her regret accepting Kyuseishu and Katsumi as her guests.

...

Katsumi narrowed her eyes against Kyuseishu as she nervously stood off the bed. She pulled her hand from his grip and looked at him anxiously after what she just heard him saying.

"Is that so!? I'm afraid it's impossible for us to get out from this hideout... Why did you do that anyways?"

Kyuseishu gritted his teeth with nervousness as he looked at her cluelessly. He didn't know the answer himself. The only thing he could think about was how to get out from this maze as quick as possible before Orochimaru busts them. Deep in his inner self he believed that confronting Orochimaru will be inescapable.

"I don't know... I'm not scared about myself, I am afraid that Orochimaru won't hesitate to hurt you too even though you are innocent."

He said and Katsumi's eyes darted towards the door as she murmured with strangled voice.

"Let's just run!"

And they were about to run but the ceiling of the room began to crack suddenly as a violent shake occured beneath their feet causing the floor to quake and prompting some stones to drop on them from above. In the same second, the rocks of the walls were crumbling down on both of them. Kyuseishu rolled his eyes around in every direction trying to maintain his calmness before he and Katsumi get buried alive under the tonnes of rock. His hand moved robotically and grabbed a hold of Katsumi's right arm from her wrist as he started to run toward the closed door.

"LET'S GET OUT FROM THIS ROOM FIRST!"

Katsumi's eyes twitched as she felt herself forced to run with him but she pulled her arm from his grip again and looked around herself confusedly. Her brain couldn't realise the real menace yet because of the shock until a huge part from the ceiling crumbled down towards her directly.

"!"

She gasped but a loud blast suddenly obliterated the sound of her gasp and blew off the entire room like if it was made from paper. The massive tonnes of hard rock collapsed on Kyuseishu and Katsumi burying them underneath.

A huge cloud of dust and smoke floated above the rubbles of the room in mere seconds. The blast that blew the walls off wasn't an ordinary one because the whole west side of the hideout was smashed down to the ground as the dust began to vanish slightly and the massive rocks collapsed everywhere. It was a tragic incident...

A few seconds or minutes passed with Languor. Kyuseishu knelt on one knee ontop of a massive collapsed rock. He coughed rapidly to clear his throat and lungs from the dust. He thought that the worst already happened after Orochimaru's attempt to nuke them surprisingly using one of his hidden powers. But as the thick cloud of smoke started to vanish slowly, a silhouette of a familiar figure was unveiled he could swear it was Katsumi. He felt thankful that she also managed to make it out from the massive rubbles. Their battle with the Hunter in the desert, even though they got their asses owned, was certainly a good lesson for them to learn the art of surviving. Katsumi was kneeling with her both knees ontop of a giant rock about fifteen feet away from him. Kyuseishu himself didn't remember how he managed to extract his body from under these rocks. He finally resorted to the analogy that his body had acted on it's own again to rescue itself just like what happened with Orochimaru in his lab and when the Sand Hunter buried him alive under the heavy masses of sand.

"..."

He placed his hand on his chest to make sure that his heart was still pounding and lifted his eyes off the floor in the direction of the dark haired female who was crumbling down on her fours. She was coughing hard as well and her thick hair fell behind her back like a raging waterfall. Kyuseishu's pale face was filled with minor scratches and bruises, and dust patches. He regarded her with meaningful stare and released a long exhale as he proceeded to stand up.

"Katsumi! Are you okay!?"

She shifted her head slightly in his direction and nodded reassuringly as she began to undust her clothes with her hands slowly.

"... What in the world had happened?"

She asked and coughed once more as she placed one foot on the floor trying to get up. Her ripped skirt swung up with the motion revealing her slightly reddened thigh. Her skin was pale like it had been carved from pure marble even with the bruises and cuts that filled it. With shivery hand she grabbed her metallic forehead protector and rested it back over her sweaty forehead before darting her eyes around cautiously to figure in which point from the field she was exactly. She groaned faintly from the stingy pain she has been feeling on the heel of her right foot but she glanced back towards Kyuseishu waiting for any signal to come from him to tell her what they should do next, either to leave or remain. If it was up to her she would've been running away already from this place but the only one who could decide was Kyuseishu and she had to obey him even if they were taking a huge a risk. From within the smoke that was still covering the area, an enormous silhouette of a mysterious creature began slowly to emerge above Kyuseishu where Katsumi glanced at with astonishment and horror with her hazel eyes which suddenly twitched up as the giant creature started to crawl towards Kyuseishu from behind engulfed with the steam of smoke.

"Watch out Six O'clock!"

Katsumi shouted nervously feeling that her legs were betraying her to stand up. Her appealing voice made Kyuseishu startle almost immediately. He shifted his head back to look behind him quickly watching a massive brownish serpent slithering with it's bottom half closer from him. It's upper half was aroused about thirty feets high in the sky.

"!"

Kyuseishu blinked few times in a row as he observed the Serpent closely but he couldn't move an inch from his spot. His body started to tremble all over unwillingly. It was the first time for him to face a snake with this size head-on. The Serpent's head was as big as a a truck's head and it's jaw was large enough to swallow up ten persons from Kyuseishu's size. He looked back towards Katsumi nervously as he quickly tried to figure out a some way to get them out of here. It was never his plan to confront this monster. Katsumi was panting lightly as she finally managed to stand up on her shaky feet. She also couldn't believe how the situation got this grave within mere seconds, knowing already that it will be an inevitable catastrophe if Orochimaru himself appears in the scene.

"...!?"

Her eyebrows suddenly twitched up as she fixed her eyes on the top of the Serpent's head where a tall person with malicious figure was standing and eying Kyuseishu with aggressive expression. It was a male figure and a half grin was floating on the corner of his lips, and his long black hair was swaying behind him in the cool wind breeze.

"Is that Orochimaru?! He looks younger than I excepted..."

She whispered to herself dimly as she continued to stare at Orochimaru noting every single detail about his features in her mind. She felt the fear grasping her heart with icy hand although she had never experienced real fear before, even when she confronted Sakura.

"This is bad... He seems furious. I wish I got killed by Sakura or that Hunter before standing in front of this monster..."

Kyuseishu jumped off the ground suddenly and landed in a crouch few feet in front of Katsumi and facing the massive serpent head-on. He thought to tell Katsumi to run away and leave him alone to deal with Orochimaru but he was already aware that she is stubborn to obey. He panted as he glared towards Orochimaru fiercely trying to gather some courage from the dark corners of his heart to face the monster without holding back, At least to distract him and make an opening for Katsumi to flee.

"... That's Orochimaru himself, Katsumi keep your guards up and try to not to show him that you are scared. It might be one attack from him and we are finished."

Kyuseishu murmured under his breathe and Orochimaru smirked sarcastically as he folded his arms across his chest.

"I see nothing more than two brats and I thought I caused all this chaos for something bigger... One from the Sand village and the other one is a brat from the Leaf. Nice pair..."

He chuckled and shook his head squinting his arched eyebrows slightly. Kyuseishu narrowed his eyes and glanced at Katsumi who positioned herself in a fighting stance. He felt that his anxiety already reached the limit. Orochimaru's voice reached him like the blunt edge of a blade.

"... The rumours saying that I don't fight anymore might be true. Fighting and destruction don't interest me anymore because they only disrupt the progress of my universal project in becoming the immoral God of this world. However I guess today is not a lucky day for both of you because my old passion to blood has been awakened and I am so pumped up to test the potential of nowadays' Ninjas, specially that brat who managed to slip away from my grip..."

Orochimaru said and his Serpent poked out it's slippery tongue and swayed it right and left in the air like it was smelling the scent of it's preys. Orochimaru went on with his threatening speech.

"You both have to be glad that you managed to awake my dead passion to blood. But remember that a serpent will bite you when you stomp on it!"

Kyuseishu and Katsumi tensed up at the same time as Orochimaru regarded them with his terrifying glare almost paralysing their nerves. The massive Serpent lunged towards them at the same seconds with it's head arising a big cloud of dust. It's large mouth was opened wide revealing on the razor-sharp spear-like fangs inside it's jaws designed to rip the flesh and crush the bones. Kyuseishu's eyes popped out with terror as he established a quick eye contact with the Serpent. In that second he felt that the flow of time stopped around him and his reflexes became extremely slow to the point that his brain almost stopped sending it's nervous signals to his muscles which would permit them to move. A huge shape of Orochimaru's face flashed before him in an instant giving him a severe shock and trapping his senses and reflexes completely under a fear spell which froze his body in one place making him a mere motionless target.

"Guu!"

Katsumi was about to glide sideways to dodge the incoming assault but she startled as she glanced at Kyuseishu gravely figuring out that it has to be the fear that pinned him in one place because he looked directly in the eyes of the Serpent. Katsumi knew it's the end for both of them because as she was about to propel herself to the side, she suddenly realised that her own body couldn't obey her to move out from the Serpent's way or in any other direction. Her eyeballs popped out from anxiety. She wanted to tug Kyuseishu from his collar and drag him away with her before it was too late but her body betrayed her and she found herself trembling while drowning in her cold sweat in the same spot like a trapped insect.

"!"

"OROCHIMARU SAMA!"

Katsumi's heart had almost stopped beating before she could hear the furious shout that came out from the blue. The lunging Serpent halted suddenly in front of Katsumi and Kyuseishu like if the shout created an invisible wall between the predator and the preys. Orochimaru looked with blinking expression in the direction that the shout came from and an upset look overshadowed his face.

"Tayuya!?"

He whispered slowly and arched one eyebrow. Soon he was eying the red headed woman carelessly as a mischievous grin started to float upon his pale lips.

"Tayuya... You got to be in my room right now, dear. I am going to deal with those two rats quickly then I'll get back to you... Anyway, what are you doing here?! I don't think the show will be that interesting for you to watch huehuehue."


	13. Chapter 13: Enough!

The day grew old and the sun started to sink down beneath the tops of the hills and mountains. Dry leaves were swaying in the wind that blew softly upon the open field within the forest. The atmosphere was tensed between the four persons who stood facing each other. Among them the red haired woman stood upright on an average height tree branch in the back glaring murderously towards Orochimaru. Her pale lips were curved into a pout and her naturally arched brows were shaped into a frown concealing her enormous rage. She released a soft exhale as she parted her lips slightly.

"Orochimaru sama... I won't let you lay a finger on them."

She uttered confidently. Kyuseishu blinked surprisingly and looked over through his shoulder to where Tayuya was standing about fifty feet behind him and Katsumi.

"...!"

Katsumi's eyebrows twitched as she looked unconsciously in the same direction that Kyuseishu was looking at. She almost forgot to breathe normally since the monstrous Serpent lunged at them but she felt a bit relaxed that Kyuseishu made it out from his stunned-like state.

"That bitch..."

She murmured under her breathe as she noticed Tayuya but her voice wasn't loud enough to even reach Kyuseishu's earshot. Tayuya narrowed her eyes displaying a fierce glare towards Orochimaru who stood ontop of his Serpent's head which kept it's mouth open wide like a bottomless dark cave. Kyuseishu could see Tayuya scowling and her thin chin shivering constantly as she continued to stare at Orochimaru with her fiery expression.

"..."

Orochimaru maintained his silence as well for moments while observing Tayuya with disinterest. He chuckled faintly and rested his hands on his hips as he looked sideways before regarding Tayuya back with a meaningful stare able to terrify anyone but the North Gatekeeper.

"Tayuya... I am not in the mood to hear your lame jokes."

He said with a brief sigh. His tone maintained it's obnoxious level of sarcasm although it was laden and hollow.

"... Are you trying to stop me? Hehe, You know pretty well how people end up if they attempt to oppose me..."

Orochimaru said. Katsumi stared at Tayuya's face through the corner of her vision with scrutiny trying to observe the changes that Orochimaru's speech made on her.

"..."

She huffed out her breathe slightly when she couldn't notice any minimal change on Tayuya's features and rolled her eyes back in Kyuseishu's direction, and gave him a meaningful stare she believed he wouldn't notice. She admitted to herself that Tayuya's presence loosened a bit her anxiety and gave her a room to breathe and get herself together. She shook her head and swiftly leaped backwards few times as she realised that she was still standing right before the obnoxious Serpent. She landed upon her feet behind Kyuseishu with fifteen feet and continued to eye Orochimaru carefully. Her limbs kept shuddering like if she had received an electrical shock.

'At least Tayuya saved us some time so we can run away now but what is Kyuseishu thinking about? Why don't we just run already...'

She murmured to herself. Tayuya eventually allowed a strangled sigh to escape her lips as she lowered her head down a bit trying to restrain her emotions from controlling her. She frowned and pressed her lips together sorely as she stuttered with weak voice.

"...Kido... maru..."

A single tear slipped from her left eye socket and rolled down on her cheek as she she closed her eyes and clutched on the fabric of her pale crimson gown with her tiny fingers slightly.

"..."

Kyuseishu watched through his shoulder the colours leave Tayuya's face. He entirely forgot himself and the threat that stands mere feets before him as he saw Tayuya's wound reopen again.

'... Tayuya, this is not the right time for emotions.'

He whispered to himself staring at her for more seconds before finally deciding that he must put his life on his palm now and fight like a true Shinobi to finish off Orochimaru and his viciousness. A true shinobi... Orochimaru cocked his eyebrows and held his hands in front of his belt. His eyes devouring Tayuya and piercing through her clothes and skin to settle on her fragile heart strangling her dark emotions. He was pretty aware of her weak spot- She can't oppose his will even if it goes against all of her principles, and his influential charisma was enough to make her tumble off her toes in front of him.

"C'mon, it was never my intention to provoke your emotions that you tried to forget all this time, Tayuya... You know, I gave him a chance to live his life but he forced me to do what I did. hehe"

" ... Just like what I am going to do with those brats. But if you attempt to stop me, you won't be able to do so because I am at the peak of my strength!"

Orochimaru asserted, finishing his cold speech and Katsumi's nerves tensed up as she widened her eyes shockingly. She felt an unpleasant sharp sting in her stomach nearly made her throw up.

"The peak of his strength!?"

She repeated as a heavy sweat drop of irritation ran down the across the side of her head as she stared closely at Orochimaru with intimidation.

"Hmph... We are in serious trouble right now! But why is Kyuseishu still planted there like a pillar..."

She muttered and swallowed her saliva before looking towards Kyuseishu's back rigorously.

'I hope you are thinking of a way to get us out from this mess before Orochimaru throws us overboard...'

Kyuseishu blinked catching Katsumi's stare with the corner of his eye and also catching the meaning behind that stare. What should we do, eh? He thought and turned back towards Orochimaru forgetting why he had to be in this grave situation in the first place. His curiosity led him often to complicated situations but this time it was too excessive. He narrowed his eyes and started to stand up slowly.

"We'll be finished if I let Orochimaru slip out of my sight even for a single second... He seems pretty determined about killing us even if Tayuya decides to oppose him... But still, we are three against one so we have the advantage in number."

Kyuseishu whispered to himself feeling like his chest was tightening in a way making his heart pound rapidly. He lifted his hands off the rock eventually.

"!?"

Kuchiyose No Jutsu!

"What!?"

He suddenly winced as his ears picked up the loud shout that ruptured the temporary silence. He looked in the direction of the shout where Tayuya or apparently Katsumi was standing. Katsumi instantly lifted her eyes to the right upper corner in Tayuya's direction with a startle watching a thick cloud of smoke engulfing the red-haired woman completely. Her eyes went wide as she grunted in irritation.

"What is she planning to do!?"

She muttered lowly under her breathe and crouched down on one knee like if she was trying to propel herself forward. Orochimaru glanced over at Tayuya with doughty face watching as the cloud of smoke began to vanish from around her.

"Heh..."

He scoffed and shook his head sarcastically as he lowered his eyelids carelessly.

"... So you decided to oppose me, eh, Tayuya? I'm afraid I won't be able to forgive you this time."

He said with croaky voice and opened his golden hues wide glaring at Tayuya with penetrating hellish stare.

"You are going-"

"ENOUGH!"

Tayuya shouted out furiously silencing him. She was now standing between three massive creatures on the same tree branch. They were certainly her monstrous Doki Warriors which she resorts to summon only in the most critical situations. Her palms were placed onto the branch over the summoning seal. She sighed briefly and gazed forward with a mixture of fury and determination on her face.

Her Warriors were indeed huge and monstrous but they weren't enough to frighten someone like Orochimaru. The first Warrior on her left was about ten feet height and carried a giant stave on his left shoulder. He was wearing one piece of black cloth over his muscular body and his featureless figure was hidden beneath a swath of long greyish hair fell down until his waist from behind.

The warrior that stood in the middle right behind Tayuya was relatively shorter than the first one, his entire upper half including his jaw and mouth was wrapped with thick bandages but he was armless and wearing a brown pants. His strong chin was raised up in the air. The third warrior on the right side had two piercing bony blades attached to his forearms with white bandages as well and were designed to slice through solid defences. This one seemed to be the strongest among them despite he was blinded. He had two long breads dangling from his chin. Each one of those monsters was certainly as big as about ten men and as strong as twenty men. Their mouths were distinctively covered with bandages. From the first look, they seemed extremely potent and able to take down an entire castle by only relying on their physical powers.

Kyuseishu couldn't maintain his proper breathing pace from intimidation as he watched Tayuya rest her hands on her thighs while regarding Orochimaru with her fiery glare like daggers and Katsumi simultaneously noticed a look pass between Kyuseishu and Tayuya as the latter pulled out a small flute from underneath her clothes with her shivering hand and rested it on her lips.

"Orochimaru..."

Tayuya said taking a deep inhale without shifting her attention a slit from Orochimaru.

"You sicken me!"

She yelled and squinted her brows trying to suppress the inner voice that kept whispering in her ears it's still not late to go back now from the suicidal coup she's proceeding to arrange. It was never easy for her to take independent decisions from Orochimaru's will but now the case was absolutely different. She can no more watch him send her friends to their graves. Kyuseishu scowled and glanced back towards Tayuya with dumbfounded look feeling a slight urge forcing him to move out from this place between Orochimaru and Tayuya because he will just get in the way if one of them attacks the other. The least he thought that Tayuya seemed to be hesitating.

'... What the hell are those monsters!? I never saw Tayuya summon them before... Could even Orochimaru confront them?'

He whispered under his perturbed breathes and flexed his left shoulder without shifting his eyes a fraction from Tayuya's monsters. He realised that Orochimaru wouldn't take the risk of attacking him and give Tayuya a gold chance to attack Orochimaru who eventually offered an obnoxious chuckle and shook his head sarcastically as he stared towards Tayuya and the three warriors lined up behind her.

"Are you planning to fight me with those dolls Tayuya!?... You sure are underestimating me pretty well and the one who created them."

Orochimaru murmured and wove his hand up and down ironically which somehow made Katsumi feel her tension raise and her palms getting sweaty. She couldn't afford to let Tayuya fight to protect her. No, she still has her pride as a Kunoichi from the Sand village and she won't let that red-haired slut defend her and Kyuseishu. She scoffed to herself and looked downwards to the ground as she leaned her upper half down over the soil feeling hot blood boiling in her veins.

"Me too..."

She murmured and suddenly slammed her right hand down against the dry soil planting a special summoning seal underneath her sweaty palm.

"I can fight too!"

She snickered furiously as the seal began to whistle arising a huge pillar of smoke which ascended upwards in the air reaching the treetops above. Tayuya regarded Katsumi with disinterest like if she just made a failure attempt to steal the spotlight from her. Tayuya believed that she only can battle Orochimaru and give him hard time. She glared back towards Orochimaru and grasped her flute firmly with her fingers holding it up front of her lips, This was her battle not anybody else's.

"..."

She smirked as she positioned the flute over her mouth and inhaled briefly readying herself to play the melodies. Her face displaying a mixture of smugness and malice.

"You are calling my Doki Warriors dolls now... let's see how long would you keep up against them?"

She said confidently but the ground was suddenly trembling with her before she could even blow a single breathe into the slits of her flute. her eyelashes twitched as she watched Orochimaru's massive Serpent disappear in a large puff of smoke like it had been strucked with an invisible rocket came from the sky.

"!?"

A surprising violent blast occured in the center of the open field. Tayuya held her both arms quickly in front of her face to protect her eyes from the earth shards blasted off in every direction.

Orochimaru flinched and tensed up as he lost the solid surface that he was standing upon. The blow occured faster than his reflexes could detect, but he was aware that Tayuya wasn't the responsible for such a brutal assault because she always used to focus on strategy more than brutality in her attacks. He decided it was either Kyuseishu or the Sand Kunoichi who delivered the blow which caught him off balance and off guards as well while he was putting all his focus on Tayuya...

Katsumi knelt with her left knee upon the head of a gigantic T-REX she had summoned moments ago which appeared to be the rocket that strucked the massive Serpent of Orochimaru right in the guts. Katsumi had learned from her previous confrontation with that vague Sand Hunter that a minor hesitation during battle would lead to bane and who gets the opportunity to attack first must struck with all the available force and brutality without wasting any second. The head of her Dinosaur was elevated about twenty-five feet from the ground and it's four feet-long jaw, with all the sets of razor-sharp fangs inside of it designed to devour, was capable of tearing off over than two hundred Kilograms of raw meat in one bite. In addition, it's forty feet-long back was covered with rigid scales extending outwards from it's back until the tip of it's strong tail. It was a fierce beast, carnivore. Katsumi tapped it's head with her hands as she panted and chuckled looking over at Orochimaru with a mixture of pride and fury on her round pale face. The T-REX halted mere meters in front of the massive Serpent that had vanished leaving Orochimaru an easy target.

"GOT YOU!"

She yelled enthusiastically and before Orochimaru could make any reflexes, the T-REX swung it's heavy tail around stroking Orochimaru brutally in his side, and mid air, an accurate hit sent him flying away like a projectile in the depth of the forest with a large line of blood flowing profusely out from his impaled side. He flew past Tayuya- who her jaw dropped from astonishment- about seventy meters before smashing wildly against a tree trunk in the back. The tree didn't get crashed but the two successive hits Orochimaru received would shatter any person's ribs easily. Orochimaru sat up on his buttom slowly, He dropped his head back against the tree trunk and groaned faintly under his breathe. Getting up with those injuries was almost a miracle for him but he did it.

"..."

His entire lower right side was slashed open. A jagged deep wound caused by the impact of the Dinosaur's harsh scales on his skin. It wasn't a lethal injury because it missed his heart at least, but he realised that he'll die very soon if the bleeding doesn't stop. He believed that his liver has to be severely damaged. He started to stabs up and his long hair fell over his face covering his furious expression that made him look more monstrous. He felt the pain stings growing and chuckled maniacally.

"... That little brat from Sunagakure is going to get murdered first... Hmph... even before that rat Kyuseishu."

He stuttered to himself with strangled voice simultaneously realising that he could still move his arms and legs which were enough for him to return to the battlefield and massacre those three gerbils, he thought.

At that moment, Tayuya was eying Katsumi closely with disbelief displayed on her narrowed eyes, those eyes which barely managed to record the rare moment of Orochimaru receiving that brutal struck from a rookie Kunoichi. She robbed her eyes with the back of her slender hand to make sure that she wasn't dreaming.

"... That chick... When did she get the courage..."

She murmured. The surprised stare on her eyes shifted to a rigorous glare as she remembered her humiliating defeat against the other blond chick from Sunagakure about twenty years ago.

Katsumi stood upright atop the head of her Dinosaur and grinned smugly as her hands balled into fists unconsciously. She looked over at the direction that Orochimaru flew in, believing deep down that she sent him to hell.

"Hah! I got him with a single stroke!"

She shouted victoriously but she suddenly felt weakness infiltrate her muscles. But she remembered that she hadn't seen Kyuseishu since the moment when she lunged towards Orochimaru, and Kyuseishu was right in her way. Did he get squashed under the weight of her Tirannosaurus?

"!"

Her hazel eyes twitched at the thought but she casually looked downwards towards the ground where she watched a familiar head emerge from a large water splash right beneath the Dinosaur's feet. It was Kyuseishu who groaned as he completely emerged from the water spot in his human form and turned towards Katsumi who was staring at him incongruously like if she was seeing him doing his trickery for the first time. His slippery body melting slightly like salt.

"Humph... Were you trying to crush me with your beast or something!?"

He grumbled and spit on the ground.

Katsumi shrugged.

"Quit whining... I knew you would deal with it somehow." She said evenly. "I didn't have time to warn you to move out of my way..."

Kyuseishu groaned and stood up narrowing his eyes against her as he pouted his lower lip and glanced up at her with a hint of accusation.

'What the hell was she thinking when she made her Dinosaur dash recklessly towards Orochimaru without alarming me... She already saw me transforming into water quite some times but I don't think she knows that my body does that unconsciously in the awkward situations...'

He whispered to himself as he continued to eye her with peeved look. The moment his eyes blinked, he shifted his head to look back forward across the Dinosaur's swaying tail as his ears picked up a strang a melodies coming from Tayuya's direction.

"...!"

He watched Tayuya turn to face them with her back. She looked in the direction where Orochimaru had landed and held her flute in front her lips. She started to blow into her flute producing intense sharp melodies spreaded in the air like invisible ripples.

"Now it's my chance to finish him off once and for all..."

She murmured fixing her fierce glare forward towards Orochimaru's assumed location. The trees were thick enough to block any crimson light of the dusk from reaching the forest's floor but Tayuya didn't need to spot Orochimaru's location accurately to launch her attacks. The moment she started to blow into her flute, her Doki warriors swiftly jumped off the tree branch at the same time and dashed onwards in the air between the trees. Orochimaru was several meters away from her but the melodies reached his earshot almost instantly. He stood upright slowly although the frailty he felt in his body after the large amount of blood he lost. He shook off the leaves and twigs stuck on his clothes and chuckled to himself.

'She thinks that her classic techniques can frighten me, heh.'

He took some steps forward on the soft grass closing the distance a bit between him and Tayuya although he was still unware that she already made a step ahead of him on the battle.

"!?"

His golden orbs widened suddenly as he looked up nervously and a blood vein popped up on his forehead. The long haired Doki warrior appeared above him and lashed the tapered end of his giant stave towards Orochimaru's head. The strike left a huge crater on the ground where Orochimaru was standing before he leaped away barely dodging the powerful strike that stirred a big cloud of dust. Orochimaru propelled himself upwards as he snickered watching his attacker land with a loud thud on the ground which groaned under his weight.

"Too early to relax!"

Tayuya stuttered under her breathe as her sharp melodies continued to flow outwards from her flute like an invisible strings manipulating her doughty warriors which were extremely sensitive to any vibration of her complexed tunes. Orochimaru eventually flinched watching an enormous shadow approaching him from behind. The Doki warrior with the bony blades swung his right arm down performing a downward slash with stunning speed meant to slice Orochimaru in half. Tayuya smirked maliciously watching Orochimaru popping up in her field of vision like a panicked rat. He had dodged the last stroke- which forced him to sacrifice his whole left arm in order to jump away- hardly but Tayuya's plan of luring him out worked perfectly.

He eventually landed down on a tree branch and panted heavily. Tayuya gave a smug grin.

"Now you are nothing more than a rat, Orochimaru... Even you at your current health condition won't keep up with my fighting strategy and the combined attacks my men are launching..."

She muttered watching her warriors attack Orochimaru successively from every possible direction giving him no time to repose or even think of a strategy to fight back. But he kept leaping from a tree to tree dodging the blows almost barely every time. He panted rapidly displaying a hostile expression on his sweaty, pale face as he eventually landed on a large tree branch about one hundred feet away from Tayuya. It was obvious that he was having hard time just by dodging and he will give in soon. He widened his eyes readying himself to dodge the upcoming blow as he looked up to the upper right corner. An unpleasant feeling started to grow within his core.

"Hngh... Bad timing... This body can no more withstand the pressure... It is going to rejected me soon at this rate..."

He murmured with laden voice. His face pale like a frail tree leave dumped in the wind Autumn. Tayuya narrowed her eyes as she offered another smug smirk and glared towards Orochimaru furiously as she caressed the flute with her lips.

"Time to end this."

(( To be contibued...


	14. Chapter 14: No One Is Immortal

"What's going on?"

Kyuseishu murmured trying to see through the set of trees in front of him as a sweat drop rolled down slowly on the side of his head. He pulled out a Kunai from his weapon pouch and jogged forward through the massive rocks scattered on the grass right and left.  
The strange melodies that he kept hearing from Tayuya's direction were making his ears twitch and sending bizarre chills down his spine.

Katsumi blinked and spun on her heels around herself towards him regarding him with a worried expression.

"Kyuseishu!"

She yelped and turned her head to look back in Tayuya's direction with disgust.

"These melodies are creepy... Is this her special technique or whatever? If the purpose of these melodies was to manipulate her Warriors then she even might be able to manipulate anyone she wants as well..."

She muttered as her eyes finally detected Tayuya within the trees. Her eyebrows frowned, she was only able to see a part her back because of the thick branches and leaves spreaded along the line of her vision although she was almost at the same height with her since she was standing ontop of her Carnivore.

"..."

Tayuya distanced between her feet and narrowed her eyes as she firmly glared at Orochimaru.

"Time to end this crap!"

She uttered and lifted her index and middle fingers of the hand that wasn't holding the flute, forming half handseal. She twirled the flute swiftly with her fingers before putting it back on her lips and started to blow into it again. This time it was a different tone.

Orochimaru continued to pant heavily as he stood up glaring in the direction that he presumed the next attack will come from. The bushy trees helped to keep Tayuya hidden for him at least for the time being.

"Guuu"

He groaned and the pale skin of his face started to crack suddenly and turn colourless. His widened golden orbs nearly popped out from their sockets as his body began to tremble. He lifted his head up skyward as a line of saliva ran out from his widely opened mouth.

"Guaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

A human arm started to emerge from his mouth then a complete human body slipped out and fell onto the branch; a new reborn Orochimaru . He was totally coated by saliva.

"Hngh..."

He propped himself on his fours as his former body crumbled down over his feet like an empty shell. He continued to pant heavily due to the huge amount of Chakra he just drained to expell a new body. A new body just to slaughter Tayuya and the other two brats.

"!?"

He winced as he inhaled the third breathe of air into his empty lungs. His body started to shudder all in a sudden like if he was tossed into an icy pool.

"What the...!?"

His widened eyes turned bloody red like two swamps of blood. He couldn't figure out what's going on until he realised that his body got completely paralysed like if he has been tied up with invisible ropes.

"AHHHHHHH!... Tayuya! I'll make you ride my cock like you used to do in front of those two rats before slaughtering you... Urgh..."

He growled maniacally as his body kept trembling from head to toe. Soon his whole face was covered with blood flowing massively out from his eyes and ears.

"TAYUYA!"

He screamed out loudly with a voice filled with wrath. The scream ripped the silence of the forest and made Kyuseishu flinch as he stopped running through the trees.

"What the hell is going on? I can't hear the melodies anymore even though I am closer from Tayuya than before..."

He looked over through his shoulder to where Tayuya was standing and snickered in irritation. Tayuya continued to manipulate the stream of sound coming out from her flute with high skill and concentration. Her sharpened glare was still fixed on Orochimaru.  
In this moment her melodies were deeper and more intense than any previous time, she sent all of them towards Orochimaru's ears with extraordinaire accuracy attempting to affect his brain cells and destroy his nervous system. She have decided to be merciless and that is just what Orochimaru deserved.

"!"

The moment Kyuseishu appeared in her field of vision she blinked and regarded him with cold look without shifting her attention from her flute. It will be the end of her plan if she gets distracted by anything even for a second.

"Stay back or you will also get trapped in my sound Genjutsu!"

She shouted at him nervously. Kyuseishu grimaced but he blinked as he noticed the flute in her hands for the first time.

"Sound Genjutsu!? Tayuya you..."

"I already trapped him like a hare..."

Tayuya whispered. Her voice becoming more frail like if she was facing breathing troubles. A sweat drop rolled down across the back of her bare neck where the tiny symbol of her cursed seal was carved. She was draining a large amount of Chakra to cast her Genjutsu but she decided that she will never escort to use the dark powers that Orochimaru granted her, because she believed that she can defeat him without them. Yes she can do it relying just on her original powers and her skills.  
The corner of her swollen lips curled into a mischievous grin.

"Even Orochimaru himself... Even Orochimaru himself can't dispel my illusion once he gets trapped in it... But forgive me, I'm putting an end to your legend right here..."

She murmured but her grin vanished suddenly. A stunned expression overshadowed her face as her eyes went wide with disbelief.

"!?"

The wheezing whistle of her flute stopped as Orochimaru stopped trembling and rose to stand upon his feet. He rolled his terrifying eyes around lowering his head and panted heavily like if he had just lifted a heavy burden off his chest. Shedding a new body wasn't always a smooth operation but  
the light began to return slowly to his laden face.

"Tayuya... Ugh..."

He stuttered and groaned either from pain or exhaustion as the familiar sarcastic grin started to crawl into his pale lips.

"I am disappointed in your weak performance..."

His voice was loud enough for Tayuya to hear whom her face darkened more as she watched him hold up his slightly throbbing arms in front of his chest as he looked in her direction with furious look glinting with anger.

"Ngh... I thought you could at least bind me for five minutes... You should've released that seal on your neck huehuehue..."

He chuckled obnoxiously and Tayuya widened her eyes more from anxiety as her fingers shivered nearly dropping the flute from her grip.

"Now I realise why I wasn't impressed when you got beaten to a pulp by that Sand Kunoichi... You only survived so I can smear my own hands with your blood now..."

His voice was poisonous. Tayuya squinted as her breathes faded away and she completely stopped blowing in her flute, reaching the brink of her stamina.

"Damn it! I can't... use it now..."

She stuttered faintly and held her flute down her hip, staring downwards at her feet. She was desperate and lost. She realised that she just messed up everything she worked for the past several years.

"Humph..."

Orochimaru sighed as he clapped his hands together in front of his chest fixing his murderous glare on Tayuya. His body continued to shake slightly even after the Genjutsu affect had been disrupted.

"Heh... The last thing I have expected from you is to underestimate me Tayuya! Now it's time you face my wrath!"

He yelled effortlessly.

'Damn it... her Genjutsu affected my brain badly even though it didn't last that long... I still can't control my chakra flow properly. Besides, it will take time for my body to start reacting swiftly. But one move is enough to finish her off so there's nothing to worry about...'

He whispered to himself and at this certain moment he spotted Kyuseishu dashing forward in his direction through the trees but he gave him no attention and continued to eye Tayuya aggressively.  
Kyuseishu was about thirty feet away from Orochimaru when he halted and quickly wove a couple of handseals with his both hands as he glared towards Orochimaru coldly paying no attention to the fact that he just made from himself an exposed target.

"It's my only chance now to step forth.  
SUMMONING JUTSU!"

He murmured under his breathe fixing his fierce glare on the field above Orochimaru where a fragile thread suddenly appeared and dangled down over his head.

"!?"

Orochimaru blinked incongruously but then he flinched as a massive white Spider fell from nowhere and landed on him crushing him down against the branch he was standing upon.

The large spider that dangled down from the white thread was three times bigger than a matured Tiger. It fell down on Orochimaru smacking him brutally against the tree branch and then the ground in a loud thud stirred up a large cloud of dust. Tayuya's eyes twitched, She was motionless for a while. Not everyday she gets to see Orochimaru getting consecutively assaulted with this brutality.  
The spider squashed Orochimaru's body onto the ground mercilessly before quickly curling it's firm limbs around him preventing him from struggling and then started to suck his blood up like if he was a helpless fly.  
Orochimaru didn't even struggle or writhe. He was whimpering faintly and flailing his head under the Spider's weight feeling his warm blood leaving his body. In the heat and extreme pressure some of his ribs started to shatter and you could hear the bones being cracked. He panted heavily struggling to swallow another gulp of air.

"... Ahhhh.. Bast...ard..."

Tayuya heard him stutter but she wasn't able to see clearly what's going on. She felt like if her body has been frozen from the shower of cold sweet pouring profusely from her skin. But she was aware that Orochimaru wasn't having a good time or he might even be dying.

"What did just happen... Is Kyuseishu still alive..."

...  
Katsumi dissummoned her Dinosaur with a swift flick of her fingers and jumped down to the ground landing softly on her feet. She looked forward in Tayuya's direction holding her palm over her eyes horizontally although there was no sunlight to blur her eyevision.

"Is the battle already over? Where's Kyuseishu... This silence that occured all in a sudden..."

She murmured and started to walk forward with regulated steps feeling the fragile twigs dumped on the ground cracking underneath her heels. There were a couple of black birds passing by on the sky in the same direction of her walking path she hadn't notice them but Kyuseishu did, then in the next second he noticed her approaching him slowly from behind.

"Katsumi?"

He whispered as he glanced at her through his shoulder catching the meaning of the look that adorned her face.  
She walked up to him and planted her hands on her hips like if she was waiting for him to say something first, but when he didn't stutter any word she started to scan the environment around them cautiously furrowing her brows.

"... Where is Orochimaru?"

She heard him sigh as he patted her left shoulder with his palm and stared at her face blankly. His lips moved to answer her question but the word he was intending to utter came from another mouth.

"-"

"DIED!"

Tayuya said as she stepped closer from Katsumi and gazed up towards the place where Orochimaru just spilled out his last breathes. He turned into an empty shell without a single blood drop left on him. It happened faster than the human brain could believe.

"... He didn't even struggle."

Tayuya added. Her face was brooding like it had been carved from stone.

"Maybe he knew it is his fate to die with this terrible way... Even more brutal than his own killing methods..."

Katsumi felt bizarre tingles down her stomach as her stare fell on Orochimaru's remains on the ground.

"...!?"

She felt disgusted and panicked at a time... and sorry. Her mind was now filled with several hilarious methods of murdering.  
Tayuya tilted her head to the side and looked back to the ground as a strangled sigh fled from her lips.

"... Rest in peace Lord Orochimaru... I didn't even imagine we could take you out so easily..."

She eventually decided that she had to be glad that Orochimaru won't appear again in front of her in any other place from this earth. But there was something else she kept fighting to blow it off her mind, The guilt.

"Kyuseishu..."

She whispered never lifting her stare from the ground. The thought of turning down Orochimaru was suffocating her slowly. Kyuseishu blinked and looked at her as he lifted his hand from Katsumi's shoulder.

"What is it?"

He asked. Katsumi immediately realised that her turn is over and stepped to the side from Kyuseishu leaving a space for him to face Tayuya as she regarded her meaningfully.

"..."

Tayuya lifted her eyes from the ground slowly but she didn't look back at Katsumi, she stared at Kyuseishu's face for an extended moment of time forcing a smile into her lips.

"Thank you..."

Kyuseishu stared at her face with scrutiny only an old friend could get away with and shrugged his shoulders.

"... I think it's time for us to leave."

He forced himself to say something. Katsumi shook her head and shouldered past Kyuseishu fixing her stare on an unknown horizon ahead of her.

"I was unable to do anything without the opportunity you gave me... Thanks for sheltering us... For a while"

He said and bowed his head sympathetically in front of her. He didn't know if he did the right thing to express his grateful feelings to her or he only made her feel more guiltiness...

"WHA...!"

A loud shriek suddenly snapped Kyuseishu out from his thoughts and sent him back to the world of reality. He was confident it was Katsumi who just disappeared into the woods and the bell of danger rang on his head. He blinked and without thinking he turned to run in the direction that Katsumi went in.

"Katsumi!"

He shouted anxiously and started to run into the woods disappearing from Tayuya's field of vision in a couple of seconds. Tayuya hid the flute underneath her gown and sighed feeling for the first time some sort of inner peace. She then jogged after Kyuseishu.

'It can't be Orochimaru...'

Kyuseishu's eyes twitched as he landed in a crouch on Katsumi's left and looked surprisingly in the direction where she has been looking.

"W-what's that!?"

He asked. Katsumi was covering her mouth with her both hands to prevent another shriek from coming out. She stared awfully at the ground in front of her feet.

"..."

When Tayuya halted on Katsumi's right her eyes widened with shock before she took any step further. Orochimaru's corpse was dumped on the ground beneath a tree trunk and for their dismay the corpse was intact.

"Oro... chimaru..."

Tayuya whispered lowly with disbelief. The corpse was reeked and it's terrible scent was already filling the air. The body was unharmed but the eyes were widely opened like two dark holes.  
Katsumi swallowed in irritation and held her hands over her waist. She struggled to remain calm after the terror she just witnessed.

"Was he already died..."

She said under her breathe watching Kyuseishu crouch over the head of the corpse and press his forefingers lightly against the side of it's bare neck to find any pulse.

"..."

He stared at the corpse for a while longer observing it closely before glancing back across his shoulder towards the two females.

"... I'm pretty sure he died around three hours ago from now... This couldn't be a fake corpse."

Tayuya looked downwards at the ground for a moment grasping the meaning of Kyuseishu's words. The shocked expression began to disappear from her face but another mysterious feel made her want to disappear from the existence forever. She sighed heavily.

"..."

She glanced forward trying to mask the guilty expression that surfaced on her face and pressed her lips together. She was holding her tears from rolling down, not from sadness but because of other reasons only God knows about them.

"You mean he was dead before we even started to attack him... But how could that be possible!? Were we fighting a copy of him or something?"

Katsumi murmured without shifting her eyes away from the corpse. Kyuseishu stood up and shrugged his shoulders giving the corpse a last look.

"It's impossible for him to create a copy of him while he is already dead... But my Spider didn't devour a copy or a clone as well, it was a real person..."

He said realising that he is just going to make the issue even more complicated if he doesn't find a clear explanation for this bizarre phenomenon.

"... Let's say that Orochimaru knew that he was dying so he used a dead corpse and applied the transformation Jutsu on it to make it look similar to him then manipulated it to fight us instead of him so he can die in peace elsewhere... But if Orochimaru was already dead before three hours then the copy would have disappeared the moment he died. Besides, a normal copy can't survive a direct hit and we landed several blows on him..."

Kyuseishu spoke and suddenly widened his eyes as he looked back towards Katsumi with appealing look.

"Is it possible that he fled away?Katsumi, can you feel any Chakra source around us despite ours?"

Katsumi narrowed her eyes slightly and shook her head.

"... I am reassured that there's no other Chakra on the field around here... Even those who are able to conceal their Chakra can't hide their spiritual energies. Well it's the first time I met Orochimaru face on but I'm pretty sure that this is Orochimaru's real corpse and the other one was probably a mere trickery..."

/


End file.
